Claws Of His Heart: Dimensional
by IfYouLovedMe
Summary: Sing. Dance. Blade. Those were the only three words Iris knew in her life. As an agent for the WBBA, she and the gang are recruited in a mission to save Koma Village from being destroyed-but why? And by whom? Her past shadowed and stained, she herself torn by secrets, will she find her real purpose, and maybe even someone to live for? KyoyaXOC Adult language/themes, M to be safe
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Games Best Played In The Shadows**

A middle-aged man was hunched over the desk in a dark office room littered with pens, crumpled up paper, loose files, books, and endless research, eyes narrowed as he scrutinized a stack of newspapers in front of him. A thin layer of sweat shone across his forehead, his dark eyebrows pulling together in concentration. All of the headlines were similar: _Boy from Koma Village Becomes Japanese Beyblade Champion_ and _Fact or Fiction: Power of Star Fragments Originally discovered in Koma Village_ and the one that he currently held under his nose: _Unknown Power In Beyblades Tapped By Top Bladers?_

Every so often, he would pause to scrawl something in illegible print on the notepad lying on his knee. Most of the reports were utter nonsense—unimportant to his cause—and were about children playing their silly games. But there was something else—every single article made a reference to an unknown power. Years of research had finally come down to a single question: _Where was all this power coming from?_ Scooping a book from the clutter on the floor, he skimmed the pages until he found a bit of text, only a few pages long, concerning a rare gem that enhanced physical abilities and mental strength. The red diamond the ancient people had called _kurisutaruhato_ or _crystal heart _for its blood red color and life-enhancing properties. Apparently, the gems were so incredibly rare that they had only been found in three places on the planet: a summit in southern Australia, the most abundant of the three, a small cavern in South Africa, and only one in an abandoned mine in Brazil. To the day, in fact, there were only fifty known to exist on Earth.

The man could remember from his childhood the stories his father used to tell him about a people in the far mountains, a beyblading village that had produced many bladers of incredible power with no explanation. It just so happened that a legend told that the village sat atop a red sea—cursed gems formed by the blood of those who fought against the evil deeds the earliest beyblades had been used for. Those who died gave their strength to raise new generations of defenders if anything ever happened to threaten the world again. "I've found it," he muttered to himself. "Yes, this is it, it has to be. Master will be pleased…" Wasting no time, he tapped a button on the underside of the desk with his knuckles, clutching the book and his papers tightly to his chest as if he feared for his life, were he to lose them.

Minutes ticked by in the darkness, but there was no sound from the man or from the door. Surely the Master had heard the buzz? Was he angry, perhaps, at the immense length of time it had taken to find answers?

_Ding._ Outside, the card scanner alerted to a presence and the man in the room stiffened as it opened, the hallway light blinding him before shadows enveloped his vision once again.

"Speak," a quiet male voice answered gruffly. "What have you found? Come now, we don't have much time." It was good to not have to see Master's face, he decided. Master may be younger than him and appear caring, but he very well had the ability to eliminate anyone who displeased him.

"Sir, I've found it. I'm certain of it—the source of the power those bladers have. It has little to do with their training or so-called Blader Spirits. Have you ever heard of the _kurisutaruhato?_" Waiting for a response but not getting one, the desk attendant was forced to continue. "It means _crystal heart._ It's the rarest gem on earth—a red diamond, only found in three places. Only fifty are known to exist."

"And you brought me up here to lecture me on jewelry?" The answer was mildly irritated.

Shuddering, the man shook his head. "No! The gems hold hidden powers—they aid in abilities like strength and stamina. When I was young, I heard tales of a village where powerful bladers always sprung up without warning. No one ever knew why."

"And you think these bladers had come into contact with these red diamonds?"

"Yes, I do. Or rather, the diamonds came into contact with them. I believe the village was built on top of a very large amount of these diamonds."

His Master leapt forward, grabbing for the tie of his worker, violet eyes gleaming hungrily. "And this village. Where is it? Does it even exist?" he hissed.

"It does. It's the origin of Japan's most powerful blader—Gingka Hagane. The Bey Village. Koma Village."

* * *

**Okay, the prologue was intentionally short. The title may not make sense now, but it will, I swear. Keep this in the back of your minds, it's important. Every little detail will contribute! I promised you guys another storyline, and this is the beginning of it, but I promise you, it's going to unfold in ways you can't guess **_**yet.**_** Some of you will get cookies for it later, I'm sure. Anyway, I'm posting this and the first chapter together, so onto the next! Also, I changed the summary slightly from what I posted it to be in the back of COHH, but I'm sure you guys are okay wit it. No biggie. **

**~Thorn**


	2. One: The Mysterious Blader

**One: The Mysterious Blader**

"Masamune… Are you sure this is the place?" Benkei frowned as he gave the building a once-over. Behind him, the rest of the group looked just as skeptical, glancing around at each other. The black-haired teen had brought them to a street-corner café. It was a dull-looking place on the outside, a simple red brick construction with a simple brown and red striped awning above the door and a simple coffee cup painted on the window. Inside, they could see a lot of people moving, but there was definitely no music playing. Madoka was murmuring to Gingka and Kenta as Hikaru and Kyoya stood off to the side staring off into the trees, pushed out of the way by Tsubasa and Yuu, the latter of whom had dragged his silver-haired friend forward, eagerly trying to scramble ahead to the entrance.

The group was discouraged, mostly because when Masamune had told them that he knew _exactly _where they were going, they hadn't accounted for an unnecessary _two-hour walk_. In fact, the café was only six blocks from the B-Pit, and could have been a very easy ten-minute trip, but, as always, the hothead had run into a big mess without thinking and gotten them lost on the complete other side of the city. They'd left Madoka's dad's shop around six, and the sun had still been well above the horizon. It had been warm, with a slight cool breeze, not uncommon for a late April day. Now, the sky was growing dark and on the eastern horizon, stars were popping up. If this wasn't the place, they'd all just wasted a huge amount of time and energy for nothing.

"Positive!" he declared. "They were only redoing the inside anyway, and the place is bigger than it looks. It's a well-kept secret, and besides, it'll be fun! We've been so busy, working our butts off, and we need a break and a good party." He turned to beam at them, eyes begging and looking very much like a small child trying to bribe his mother (Kyoya letting out a soft snort as Masamune failed to mention getting them lost as an added stress.) With a few more hesitant looks, everyone followed his skipping steps inside. Immediately, their take on the café did a complete one-eighty.

The most prominent feature was, of course, the large bar that stretched along the left side, all the way to the back wall a good thirty feet back. Behind it, there sat rows of bottles with questionable contents before a large, shiny coffee, cappuccino, and latte machine obscured the rear corner. Already, the marble countertop was littered with empty glasses and mugs, which a young blonde man was frantically scooping up and taking to the kitchen to be washed, returning to refill by request and dart back and forth up and down the line of full barstools. The walls were designed with a subtle curve in the paint—cream on the top, navy on the bottom, with a sky blue streak to kill the line between them—that rounded the room. Mirrors of various shapes and sizes paired with stars layered in silver glitter illuminated the room, even with the fairly dim lighting. A stage extended most of the width of the back of the room, with large maroon curtains currently hiding whatever act was going to play. In the thirty seconds they stood there admiring the décor, the crowd doubled, murmuring flitted through the air.

"We'd better find a seat, guys," Masamune muttered. All of them blinked before dropping their eyes to the circular tables that indeed filled the floor.

"I thought you said there was gonna be a concert, Masamune," Yuu gripped, crossing his arms.

"There will be, after we eat. That's the way this place works."

A rectangular table along the right wall was empty, and with the number of people their group had, they chose that. It seemed as quickly as their butts had hit the chairs, a young girl swooped over to them.

"Hello, how're y'all tonight? My name is Iris. What can I get you?" Her face was lit with a pleasant expression, lips pulled back over her teeth in a smile. Her deep blue eyes were softly rimmed with thick, black lashes, and her dark hair was pulled back in a low ponytail that fell over her left shoulder. The café didn't seem to have a uniform when they glanced around at the other waiters, but that left them to wonder why she was so dressed up. She wore a flowy emerald dress that fell to her knees, with a small gold heart-shaped locket around her neck and black heels on her feet.

"Whoa," Yuu squeaked, pushing himself up off the table with his hands. "You're so pretty!"

The girl blinked, blushing lightly before giving a soft laugh. The sound was peeling bells. "Thank you, sweetheart, that's nice of you."

"_Pretty?_ I was gonna say _smoking._" When her eyes flashed to the source of the voice, they hardened slight, but the smile never left her face.

"I remember you… Masamune, wasn't it?" He beamed at her, practically drooling. "You were here once before when there was a concert."

"Yeah, that was me! I saw you then, too! You talked to me right before you performed!" Blinking, he paused a moment, a wave of confusion crossing his normally arrogant features.

Not waiting to hear what he had to say, she took orders from everyone else, taking time to smile when she recognized a face from a tournament or some televised event.

"Oh, you're Tsubasa, right? Tsubasa Ohtori?" Gingka, Masamune, and Benkei turned their eyes to her startledly. She hadn't addressed any of the others by name, and appeared nervous as she shifted from foot to foot, eyes darting briefly around to them and back to the person in front of her.

"Yep, he's Tsubasa!" Yuu responded brightly, sipping the water already on the table. Then, in front of all of them, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his right cheek, away from them. Silence fell over the group as she pulled back and smiled widely.

"That's it," she giggled, spinning and heading back to the kitchen. When everyone was sure she couldn't hear, loud fits of arguing broke out, most aimed at the Eagle-using blader.

"How could you let her do that? And not freak out?" Masamune demanded in an almost snarl. Clearly, he was irritated that the pretty girl had chosen to hit on someone other than him.

"It's just a girl. If she's a fan, that's cool." The silver-haired male shrugged, rubbing a rag from his pocket over the bey. "Nothing to freak out over."

Tuning the others out, Kyoya sat back in his chair. There had been something incredibly strange about the waitress' confidence as she'd kissed Tsubasa. She hadn't been embarrassed or bothered by the scornful looks she'd gotten from the other boys as she'd strutted away. _Her legs were nice_, he noted with a mental shrug. There was just something about her, though. Something that didn't sit well with him.

He barely picked at the food she brought out ten minutes later, even beside him, Masamune began stuffing his face, nearly choking when his irritation got the best of him. Instead, he studied her as she served the other tables. Her movements were swift and graceful to the untrained eye, but to him, they seemed overly rehearsed, forced, even. The way her limbs swung, the way she angled her body this way and that, it was all too scripted. This obviously wasn't what she was accustomed to doing, and the lean but strong muscles in her calves and shoulders only pushed him further to suspicion. All the same, his gaze was tied to her, to the little things she did that _weren't_ forced—how she leaned on her left foot over her right, stuck the pen between her second and third fingers as she waited on orders, poked her lip out to the side when she was becoming impatient. Damn, she was one of the most attractive girls he'd ever seen. Not that it really made a difference to him, since women were just about at the bottom of his list of what mattered in life. Still… His eyes followed her as she returned to the kitchen once again, and he barely noticed as the blonde guy from the bar cleared their table.

"Alright, so now they'll push everything to the sides and cut the glow for the concert to start," he heard Masamune mumble, glancing to the side as his not-such-a-friend crossed his arms over his chest in a pout. As if on cue, the lights overheard dimmed, but were replaced by blacklights that made every bit of white shine like the sun. That meant Kyoya stayed pretty much invisible as he leaned against the back wall. Dancing was definitely not his thing, but he liked the music. And as the drums started to pound, the piano notes floated to his ears, suddenly, he was perfectly comfortable around all these people. Wait, he knew this song. But the singer was female instead of the original male…

_We're on an open bed truck on the highway_

_Rain is coming down and we're on the run_

_Think I can feel the breath in your body_

_We gotta keep on running 'til we see the sun_

The stage burst into the light, against the tan skin of a girl, her face tilted to the sky as beautiful notes sprang from her lips. Behind her, two guys inched their way from backstage to either side of her. The first shook his balled fists like he was arguing with the other, while he simply grasped her hand in his own and pulled her to him desperately. A roar rose up from the crowd as they continued.

_Oh you got a fire and it's burning in the rain_

_Thought that it went out but it's burning just the same_

_And you don't look back, not for anything_

'_Cause if you love someone, you love them all the same_

_If you love someone, you love them all the same_

As her face dropped, he recognized their waitress, Iris. She was different, though. Her face and eyes sparkled with glitter, but her entire body seemed alive, and the emotion poured into her voice couldn't have been more real. As she smiled at the man holding her hand, Kyoya recognized the bar-boy. She pulled the blonde away from the other man, standing between them and inclining her chin again.

_Oh, I feel your heartbeat_

_And you're coming around, coming around, coming around_

_If you love someone, love them all the same_

_You gotta love somebody, love them all the same_

_Singing, oh, I feel your heartbeat_

_I'm trying to put it all back together_

_I've got a story and I'm trying to tell it right_

_I've got the kerosene and a desire _

_I'm trying to start a flame in the heart of the night_

Reaching out, she brushed the darker-haired male's cheek with her fingers, and his face twisted in guilt as her grasped the hand she then offered to him and pulled both the guy and her into a rough embrace. _They're a family, _his mind whispered of the story. _He thought she was going to leave him to go with the other guy, and she just had to convince him otherwise…_

_Oh you got a fire and it's burning in the rain_

_Thought that it went out but it's burning just the same_

_And you don't look back, not for anything_

'_Cause if you love someone, you love them all the same_

_If you love someone, you love them all the same_

_Oh, I feel your heartbeat_

_And you're coming around, coming around, coming around_

_If you love someone, love them all the same_

_You gotta love somebody, love them all the same_

_Singing, oh, I feel your heartbeat_

The two spun her form between them in graceful dance; the way she moved was incredibly fluid and natural. No, she was not a waitress. The stage was where she belonged, where she needed to be.

_Ooh, ooh_

_I know the memories are rushing into mind_

_I wanna kiss your scars tonight, baby_

'_Cause you gotta try _

_You gotta let me in_

_Let me in_

_Oh, I feel your heartbeat_

_And you're coming around, coming around, coming around_

_You gotta love somebody_

_You got, you gotta love somebody_

_You got, you got_

_Oh, I feel your heartbeat_

_Oh yeah, oh yeah_

_Heartbeat_

The applause that broke out from the crowd was deafening, so the next words she spoke into the microphone around her ear were unintelligible, but he didn't have to hear to know how emotional she was. The wetness glistening around her eyes said it all, even from the distance he was. Yes, he decided, she belonged onstage.

Then, as if she felt his eyes over everyone else's, she turned her gaze to meet him. They were striking, really, to get the full effect of eye-contact. They were warm and deep, but there were things hidden in those depths. Things that he found himself wanting to ask her himself. He could see the same thoughts racing in her own mind, and suddenly, he was less than willing to even look at her. Turning his gaze to the wall, he could almost feel her confusion pounding in waves over his head. No, dammit, that was the last thing he needed, some stupid girl trying to make him give a shit and confusing him or dragging him from the track he'd set himself on—the track to becoming the best. That track didn't involve a girl.

* * *

Squinting against the sun, Tsubasa fought to follow the quick movements of Aquarius and Leone. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Striker swerve around behind a boulder, no doubt in an attempt of a surprise attack. He gritted his teeth as Aquarius struck Eagle out of nowhere before retreating to invisibility again—Hikaru had gotten stronger, less predictable. But not impossible.

"Not bad!" he allowed. "But not good enough to beat me! Eagle!" His bey flew back as he waved his hand, preparing for a counterstrike, but a gusting wind blew dirt into his eyes, and the sound of metal on earth rang in his ears. When he could glance through the debris, it was Striker at his feet.

"Aw, you've got to be kidding me!" Masamune groaned. "Who fights like that? It's not fair!"

"Anything's fair, kid. 'S not my fault if you're an awful blader with no skill." Kyoya rocked back on his heels, arms across his chest as he surveyed the arena with a bored expression. "You're out of your league."

"That's just 'cause Yoyo's super strong!" Yuu declared, laughing. "But Tsubasa can take him _and_ Hikaru!"

"Don't call me Yoyo!" the green-haired teen growled.

A bright flash from the woods to their right, followed by the sound of grinding metal was enough to shock the group into a momentary silence. Out of the bushes sprang a body fully clothed in black, with a biker helmet to hide the face. The person said nothing, pointing a finger at thin air for the bey he'd launched to follow. With a clatter, Aquarius fell back in the grass. Hikaru gasped. "Who the heck are _you_?"

"I don't know, but messing with my battle, he's got some nerve!" Kyoya snarled, a fire lighting in his eyes. "He'd gonna pay for it. Leone!"

Tsubasa blinked and cast a sideways look at the mysterious blader. One of his hands still pointed out, but instead of an index finger extended, his palm sat upright. The hand by his side slowly curled into a semi fist—the silver-haired male held back a startled laugh. The person's thumb, middle and pinky fingers were curled in so that the remaining sign appeared to be an _M_, no, a _W_. … He should have known.

"He can have at you," he declared, allowing his Eagle to back off from the battle. Behind him, he was aware of the clicking of buttons that he had previously tuned out—which meant Madoka was on her laptop.

"You guys! Look at this!"

"Look at what—oh!" Gingka exclaimed. "What is that?"

Every time Leone swerved, attempted to strike, or reversed, the other bey followed its movements gracefully, flitting around like a tease and striking when there was even the slightest drop in defense. Rocks broke, branches snapped, smoke blew in the group's faces from the forces of the relentless attacks. There wasn't but a few beys that could stop Leone in its tracks, but Kyoya seemed to have no idea how to deal with this.

"Vulcan Lynx… It's a Balance Type with incredibly high stats… I've never seen anything like this before. Its performance tip is wide like Leone's, giving it increased traction on rough terrain, but the spin track has ridges carved into it—perfect for blocking attacks from below."

A rough clinking sound signaled another hit and a gritting of teeth from Kyoya when Leone momentarily swayed before regaining its balance. "What was that?"

"Here! It has very sharp edges on the fusion wheel—just like claws! They're similar to Scorpio's, except that instead of chipping away at your bey, they provide deadly stamina cuts. Its attack power is quite high as well… It's ideal as a Balance type."

"So how is Kyoya supposed to beat that?" Kenta gulped.

So far, it seemed the helmeted visitor had barely raised a finger.

"I'm not going to be beaten that easily!" the lion-blader snarled, straightening both himself and his bey. "Your attacks have done no more damage than fluffy kitten paws. Let me show you what _real_ power is, and you'll regret ever intruding upon my battle!"

The winds picked up to tornado speeds, shaking the trees to their roots. Still, his opponent did not flinch. Quite the opposite—Lynx charged head-first into the storm, dodging flying debris that threatened it as if it were surrounded by harmless feathers. The blader, however, was not so lucky. Rocks struck the area around him, shards breaking off and slicing through the black fabric of his suit, leaving a particularly bad gash in his arm and a crack in his helmet.

It must have made him quite angry as he raised both his hands and pointed them straight at Kyoya. Blood dripped from his arm to the ground as Lynx began to glow a dark red, slowing the wind around it as it stilled for a second before a blinding beam shot straight at Leone.

_Crash._

"Kyoya!" Gingka called out. In a whir and a whip of wind, the mysterious blader was gone. The forest stilled, trees almost groaning from the strain of the weather they'd been forced through. And as the rocks and dust settled, a very angry aura emitted from the arena.

"I don't know who he was—but I'm going to find him. And when I do, he's going to pay for this," came the answering hiss.

* * *

**See, wasn't that sooooo much better than the writing in the last one? I'm so happy with myself it's killing me. Yes, I'm aware that in the beginning of the original, they saw her perform as well. They knew all knew who she was then, though, since they were going to stay with her. I liked the contrast of the rest of the chapter to that, though, and I think it works. No complaints on that similarity please, since I've already addressed it. To address one more thing, though: this is supposed to take place post-Metal Fury (which I'm sorry I haven't finished, but it shouldn't really have any effect on this. If it does, I apologize ahead for probably getting minor details wrong.) Also, I know the battle scene wasn't the best it could have possibly been. I don't normally write in third person, and I shows, but I felt like this was acceptable. I'm always open to constructive criticism. PLEASE. There will be first-person chapters, too. After all, I loveloveLOVE writing first person. So much more emotional tie that way. My purposes were best served with a lot of this chapter being third-person, though. I hope you guys liked it. (Also: most of the chapters will probably be longer than this. Just saying.)**

**Was anyone really into the tension that's already between the two of them? I thought it would add an interesting element if they were physically attracted to each other from the start. I think it will be fun for me to write their toils of keeping apart as I slowly smoosh them together. Haha.**

**So, before I get ahead of myself in this, I'd like to recognize all those people from the original Claws Of His Heart that reviewed/followed/favorited. I love all you guys so much! In the next chapter, this section will be replaced by review responses, by the way.**

**1. phantom-san: I just had to do yours first, because I just cannot express how grateful I am to you. You were with me right from the beginning, reviewing for just about every chapter. Your input meant so freaking much to me it's crazy. I looked forward to seeing what you had to say every time I posted, and that's pretty much what kept me going, since other reviewers didn't come in until much later (most of them after I finished the fic, actually.) SO THANK YOU SO MUCH! I can't wait to say what you have to say about this new one.**

**2. Wendymexia101: You only reviewed once, but I very much appreciated your support and I just wanted to say thanks.**

**3. Ren Moon Night: You just wanted me to continue writing, so that helped a great deal, knowing there were people actually reading the old one.**

**4. tbroski46: I'm glad you liked the ending, that's great! I'm hoping this one will be just as good, hopefully better, so fingers crossed.**

**5. Overflowing myst: Thanks so much for the pointers, I really appreciate it! I'll make sure to PM you if I'm ever in a writer's block. :)**

**6. kuroneko: It means so much more that you said you don't review and you did for that one! Epic? Aw, how sweet.**

**7. MyCorruptKindness: You just recently finished COHH, but I already love you for your support. AMAZING? I'm blushing. More of this pairing? You cried? That's so crazy…. You're one of the reviewers I'm looking forward to seeing more of, and hopefully some new faces too.**

**So that's all that. I have set a time-constraint for myself out of necessity: to finish this rewrite by the end of July. I'm going to be working my butt off for sure, so expect updates pretty constantly after July 7 (since I'll be on vacation from June 29 until then. I'm gonna try to get at least one more chapter up before then though.) I LOOK FORWARD TO ALL YOUR REVIEWS!**

**~Thorn**


	3. Two: I'm Me--With A Mission

**Two: I'm Me—With a Mission**

"So the WBBA wants us to help with this… Thing?" Gingka asked.

"Yeah," Tsubasa responded, rounding the street corner but not slowing. If they didn't hurry, they'd be late for sure, and he'd be the one to take the fall for it with his superiors. Being an agent was a sketchy business; you did what you were told when you were told or the consequences could be terrible.

"And you're not allowed to tell us what it is?" Masamune griped, sprinting to be in front of all of them, as was his showing of dominance. He was huffing for breath, but that didn't affect the volume of his voice.

"No," the Eagle-blader responded, unfazed.

"Let me get this straight. They're suggesting we charge head-on into this mission that could be really dangerous—possibly life-threatening—without knowing what it is we're doing or what we're up against?" Madoka grumbled in disbelief.

"That's the general idea, yeah."

"I'm liking this already." Kyoya crossed his arms behind his head as he walked, his words gaining a 'bu-bu-bu-bull' of agreement from Benkei.

"They said they'll brief us when we get to the base downtown."

"_Us_?" Gingka and Masamune stared at him.

"You mean you don't know what this is about either?" Gingka continued shockedly.

"No idea," came the response.

Beeping filled the room they were guided into. It was oblong, with plain white walls; a large oaken table sat in the middle, surrounded by black chairs. The only other object visible was a large flatscreen opposite them. Small spaces made Tsubasa somewhat nervous; he'd rather have been outside where he could see the open sky and feel the wind, not stuck in a cramped space with so many bodies.

"Please, have a seat," their escort offered, smiling. She was very young, maybe ten or eleven, but she had her job down to a science. "Mr. Damiano will be with you shortly. Make yourselves at home." The door buzzed as it closed behind her, and the group burst into conversation. He barely managed to tune it out, letting his mind wander to what the task might be that this many outsiders were needed for—nothing normal for sure, if the WBBA couldn't accomplish it on their own.

"Did you see that room full of computers?"

"And the gym?"

"What about that huge cafeteria?"

"You're always hungry!"

Ten minutes of pointless chatter was interrupted by a loud but clear voice. None of them heard the door open, but they caught it close behind a tall, thin man. He had chocolate, messy hair and dark eyes, and he carried a clipboard. Tsubasa recognized him as Alexander Damiano, the head of the Search and Investigations Department. Frowning slightly, he crossed his arms over his chest. Whatever this was, it was going to be interesting. "Hello to you all. I assume you're wondering why we've called you here…" The room was deadly silent after Damiano's words—his voice simply had that effect. He demanded focus, and he got it, sitting at the head of the table and laying his papers in front of him. "It has… Come to our attention that twice now, this group that sits before me has done more than its share to stop evils that could have very well threatened the Beyblade you all are so fond of—," a snort interrupted him, but he ignored it. "We thank you for that, really we do. However… Our authority only goes so far. Therefore, we are, ahem, _urged_ to request your assistance with an investigation of sorts."

"Investigation?" Kenta asked, eyebrows raising.

_Yeah, that figures, _Tsubasa thought.

"Yes. It would seem that your friend Gingka might not have become a powerful blader on purely his own inner strength." All eyes were locked on the agent as he spoke. "Have any of you ever heard of the _kurisutaruhato?_"

"Isn't that the rare red diamond?" Madoka grinned, straightening and puffing her chest out in pride. "It's the rarest gemstone on Earth. They're expensive and gorgeous, not to mention—"

With a cough, her rant was cut short. "Yes, they are all those things… But they are also extremely powerful. Egyptians had them imported from the mines in South Africa as sources of wealth at one time. It is true that they are the rarest gem—only fifty are known to exist today."

"That's great and all, buddy, but what the hell do a bunch of rocks have to do with us?" Kyoya growled. _I'll have to agree with him there._

"I was getting to that. These stones hold a mystical power—much like that inside your beys."

"In our beys?" Yuu squeaked, looking down at Libra.

"These stones emit an energy that strengthens the aura of those exposed to it—resulting in an increased physical ability and mental stamina. In short, large doses of exposure can lead to improved skill."

"So what? You think they shoved those things down Gingka's throat or something?" Masamune grumbled as his ginger friend's hands flew to his face. "That seems unlikely."

"It is quite impossible, really. As I said, they are rare. No, that's not what I meant. The red diamond has only been _found_ in three places on Earth: Brazil, South Africa, and Australia. The geography is surprisingly correct—to the point that we believe development of the crystals is probable in a specific location here in Japan."

"And where would that be?" Tsubasa inquired, leaning back in his chair.

"Either under Koma village or inside Mount Hagane."

"_Under Koma Village?_" Gingka flew to his feet, staring the man in the eyes. "That's impossible! I lived there all my life and we never found anything like that!"

"They are harvested from caverns miles under the Earth's crust. If a large quantity were present, you wouldn't have to find them to feel their effects. The forest around there has always prospered, hasn't it? Keeping the village hidden."

"That's only because it's so deep in the mountains!"

"Sit down, boy, and let me explain."

"So you want us to go out there and dig until we find proof that a bunch of stupid rocks are under the village," Benkei exclaimed.

"Hardly," the man sighed, irritation evident in his features. "Please stop jumping to conclusions. "The WBBA are not treasure-hunters. If that were the case, we couldn't be less concerned. No, recently, there has been a lot of unauthorized activity at Mount Hagane's peak that was picked up by our surveillance satellites.

"We fear that someone who has the same knowledge as we do may attempt to remove the diamonds—if there are any—and that is cause for great concern. Firstly, even if the diamonds were miles underground, mining an area that large would surely destroy Koma Village, without a doubt. The land would cave in on itself and swallow the buildings and everyone inside them." The group gasped, but he continued. "Not to mention, the explosions from the mining would eliminate much of the mountain environment that many species call home. Then, of course, there is the greater issue of _who_ it is that would try this. In truth, we have no idea," he admitted. "All has been quiet for a long time now, and we are suspicious of anyone that might seek out that much power for personal gain. All of this is, of course, assuming that is the intention of those people at the peak of the mountain. Your job will be to investigate the disturbances there."

"And why couldn't you just do it yourself?" Yuu demanded. "If it's just a scouting expedition, the WBBA should be able to handle it!"

The man's eye twitched. "Unfortunately, that is one of the limits of the WBBA's authority. We could not obtain permission to investigate Mount Hagane."

"So you need us because Gingka can go whenever he wants!" Madoka finished.

"Well, it's kind of obvious! If no one else wants to go, I have to! My home could be in danger!" Gingka declared, hands squeezing into fists.

"I'm going too! You might need help!" Kenta agree eagerly.

It only took quick glances around at the others to tell they were already pumped for the challenge.

"Very well. We thank you for your help. Now… I'll call someone to introduce you to the agent to whom this mission was assigned." He said, punching a few keys on his cell phone.

"Wait, it wasn't assigned to Tsubasa?" Yuu's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"No, he was considered part of your group—therefore another agent was chosen."

It wasn't long before the door opened a third time; this time greeting them with a sandy-blonde male with strikingly dark eyes.

"Lucas?" Tsubasa blinked.

"Tsubasa," he returned politely, ushering them out into the hall.

"So, then—" the silver-haired agent began, but was cut off.

"Yeah." Clearing his throat, he spoke louder, addressing the whole group as he guided hem back through the halls. "My name is Lucas Malare. I'm an ex-agent—as in, I don't go on missions anymore, but I still work for branches wherever they need me. The agent that accepted this mission ranks sixth in the world, with expert martial arts skills that are unrivaled by any professional fighters. Most of the other top-class agents have been trained under this one, including Tsubasa here."

"That's where you learned to kick butt from, huh?" Yuu giggled, poking his friend's side. After all this time, he still acted so much like a little kid, even if he _was _fourteen by now.

"I believe you me this agent yesterday—the battle between Masamune and Tsubasa and Kyoya and Hikaru was interrupted." Lucas paused in front of a metal door with a key-card swipe slot on the wall beside it. "This is our state-of-the-art training center."

"_That _guy is our agent?" Kyoya hissed.

"He was amazing! He totally kicked butt! I can't wait to meet him!" Masamune was practically bouncing as he said it. "I'll beat him! I'll do what Kyoya couldn't!"

"Watch it!" the green-haired boy warned.

"Yes, that's your agent. And _she_ is in the middle of training someone."

* * *

_Left knee. Right elbow. Sweep the feet. Block with your shoulder! Keep it moving! _My old teacher's advice rang in my mind, clear as day. It didn't disappoint—leaving my training partner splayed out on the mat in front of me. Evan stared up at the ceiling in a daze, his knees up and bent as he reached to rub the side of his face like he didn't understand how he'd ended up on the floor in the first place. There was definitely a reason I was the Number One agent in the international physical combat training department, and Number Six overall—you didn't mess with me without losing, at least, a little bit of your dignity, and that was if I really liked you. Piss me off? You'd be lucky to get out with your bones in tact.

"C'mon," I said, hauling him up off the ground with my left hand. My right arm was bandaged and sore from the slice my battle yesterday had left me with (which would probably scar, joy), but that was no excuse to sit around and do nothing if I had a choice. "You're getting better—don't keep your feet so close together, though. It makes you easy to unbalance. Now, get on. You're done for today."

As I watched the new agent stumble his way out of the training room, a group outside caught my eye. Bending to pick up my towel and water bottle, I took a long drink of the cool liquid before speaking. "Lucas! These're the—" I blinked, a grin plastering itself to my face as I laid the towel around my neck. "Hey, I know you guys! You were at the café a couple days ago!" They all stared at me, and I shifted uneasily. "Is there something on my face?" I reached up, brushing my fingers over my cheeks and chin and frowning. No, nothing. Well, didn't they know staring was incredibly rude?

The first person to speak was none other than Tsubasa, who shoved his way past the others to stand in front of me. "Hey, Iris."

I beamed at him, nearly putting him on the floor as well from the force of my hug. "I missed you! God, it was awful not to say anything before…"

He squeezed my shoulders briefly, chuckling. "Missed you too, Coz."

"_Cousin?_" The group behind him let out a unified gasp, and I peered over his shoulder, grinning.

"Well, sure. Why not?" I shrugged.

"Wait wait wait. So you're telling me the singing chick is the super-agent that you were talking about? And that she was the one that beat Kyoya?" Masamune and Gingka looked at each other before erupting into a fit of laughter, leaning on each other for support. I became aware of many other sets of eyes locked on me, some in confusion, some in doubt, and one ice blue set in both annoyance and anger. I couldn't let it appear that it affected me, if I had a choice.

"How rude," I scolded, frowning as I let go of my relative. "What, I can't be that good?"

"She's not lying," Kyoya growled, stepping forward to roughly grab my forearm, making me yelp and yank my bandaged hand back to my chest.

"You don't have to be so rude." I scowled at him, half out of anger and half out of pain. The cut was still extremely sore, even after the numbing meds and the stitches. I wasn't a wimp, but it hurt like a mother. Yeah, I was sorry for hopping in the middle of their battle, but my superiors had decided it was the best way to introduce them to my skill. No, I couldn't just challenge them like a normal person would have. Instead, they shoved me into a mess of flying trees and rock to get hurt unnecessarily. God, I just _loved_ my job.

Ignoring his glower, I quickly introduced myself, and then excused myself to the showers so that I could get in some normal clothes before discussing the plans with them.

The hot water burned slightly on my damaged skin, but did wonders for the tired muscles underneath. Recently, they'd been working me hard, trying to make me into their idea of invincible. To be honest, I'd been long done with being an agent, ever since I'd taken up my mom's position.

You see, my mom had been an agent for the WBBA since the time she turned fifteen, and it had been her whole world to work for the good of more than just herself, to know she'd been useful to someone. I could remember the way she smiled when I asked her what good she'd done on any particular day, the way she would laugh happily as she described everywhere she'd been, everything she'd done. Lucas said I reminded him of her sometimes, in the little quirks I had or the way I tilted my head when I was smiling… No one knew exactly what had happened after that, or why she became so ill so quickly. There was nothing she had come into contact with at work, as far as anyone knew, and there was no history of hereditary diseases in our family. The truth was, the doctors didn't know what it was she was sick _with. _She'd been admitted to the hospital and died two months later, leaving Lucas and I on our own.

If you're wondering where my dad was, no one knew. In one of her deployments to the United States, she'd met him and in a few short months, they'd fallen in love and gotten married. The details were always sketchy for Lucas and me, but she'd stayed in the US long enough to have both of us and keep her family together for four years, before she'd been sent somewhere else for a couple years. In that time, it had become routine that our dad take care of us. The only problem was that my dad was in the military, and when I was seven, he'd been called to service. That's when my mom had decided it would be a good idea to take a few years off from work to raise us in Virginia, so as to not take us out of our schools and mess up our lives… As we got older, we began to travel back and forth with her from the US to Japan, and I'd made a lot of friends in both locations. Several times, my dad came back, to be deployed again a few months later. One time, though, he didn't come back. To be honest, I didn't remember much about him. He was tall, and had dark hair and a goatee. There was something else, too—like a happy glow I couldn't place. The only thing from that time ingrained in my mind was the convoy that showed up at our door to hand my mother a flag and to announce that her husband had gone MIA four months prior. The shock and the pain written there… Three years later she died. Without either of our parents, Lucas had to pick up her job for a year to pay the bills, before it was decided that he lacked the credentials to fill the position that was left. That's where I'd come in, and where I'd become fed up with the WBBA. The higher-ups seemed to think that just because my mother trained me in some martial arts that I was better off than Lucas, who had received the exact same training. Some shit that was.

Wringing my hair out and running a brush through it, I rewrapped my arm gingerly in bandage to keep dirt from the wound. I dressed quickly in my black jeans and Burberry combat boots, pulling a long-sleeved light gray V-neck over my head and slipping a dark blue jacket on over it, typing the upper layer of my dark hair back to reveal the gold locket that had been my mother's. It was one of the very few things I kept in her memory. "Gloves, gloves," I muttered, searching in my bag before I found the fingerless leather pair shoved in the bottom, sighing at the softness as I slipped them on. Shouldering my pack, I headed out to the central courtyard where I knew the others would be.

"You took your sweet time," Masamune grumbled from where he sat, cross-legged on a low, free-standing wall bordered by a flowerbed.

"Yeah, well. Whatever." I dropped my bag at my feet, plopping down in the grass. It was nice out today—pleasantly warm with a slightly cooler breeze that stirred the leaves of the trees and the dandelions in the grass. Above me, I caught the chittering of squirrels that chased each other through the branches; the songs of robins and chickadees floated around, echoing softly in my ears. It was a beautiful day, really. Such a shame I'd be freezing my ass of on the top of a mountain in less than a week…

Madoka and Gingka were sitting a little off from the rest, under a maple tree where she leaned against him as they chatted. It didn't take a genius to figure out they were crazy for each other by the looks on their faces. Tsubasa and Yuu were at the end of the wall Masamune was perched on, the younger boy standing and staring down at the other, apparently trying to look intimidating. Kenta was just in front of Gingka, practicing his launch and appearing quite bored with it. That left Benkei and Kyoya leaning on the outside of the building about twenty feet from the door and only a couple of feet ahead of me and to my right from where I was sitting now. The larger male was avidly preaching something to his friend (who obviously couldn't have given a shit). The latter suddenly gave a sharp retort before storming over to my side and jerking me to my feet while thankfully using my uninjured arm.

"So how did you do it, then?" he demanded, eyes lighting with a cold fire as the words hissed through his teeth. His hand moved to the collar of my jacket as his upper lip pulled back over his teeth, revealing fang-like canines. There was a good reason he was known as the Beast-Blader for sure.

I regarded him calmly, though his actions sent shivers up my spine. Somehow, I didn't think it was below him to hurt a girl that he knew could fight back, and art of me liked that. He wasn't about to let me get by with anything he wouldn't let the others get by with. I was intrigued to say the least. "Simple. I'm strong—stronger than you. Maybe not stronger than Gingka, but definitely stronger than you. It's what I've been made to train for. I never had a choice _but_ to be strong."

With a snort, he released me. His eyes were still dark in anger, but they hid a deeper, though cautious, curiosity. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It's none of your goddamn business," I replied mildly. "That's not really your concern. What _is_ your concern is this mission that you've agreed to go on."

"Yeah, speaking of which…" Gingka cut in. "How're we supposed to get to Mount Hagane, anyway? It's a long hike to Koma Village, let alone to the peak. They don't really expect us to _walk_ the whole way, do they?"

With a bitter laugh, I nodded, bending to grab my bag. "They do. However, my boss wants us to stop in Koma for a few days to take some readings and bullshit. Until we leave there, I don't really need any of you. So don't get in my way, and we'll get along just fine." Pausing and softening my tone, I added, "Don't think of me as mean or harsh, please. It's really not like that… I've just had plenty of difficulties and screw-ups in my life that have made me… well, doubtful. I'm just doing my job, whether I like it or not. And in the case of that battle… I did not." I turned my eyes to meet Kyoya's and inclined my chin, speaking as solemnly as I could. "And believe me when I say that. A bey-battle isn't a game. It's a case of honor and pride between the spirits of two bladers. There are just some things that big-time company bosses don't understand. They haven't been through the kinds of things the rest of us have to gain our honor and standing. They might work hard every day in their little offices, but out here in the real world, well, they don't know jack shit. Unfortunately for some of us, we don't have a choice but to listen to them. So for that, I am truly sorry." I bowed my head briefly, praying he'd understand.

The last thing I needed was to piss off one of the most powerful bladers in the world who just happened to be going on possibly _the_ most important mission I'd been assigned. The bitter truth was that I didn't know how I'd beaten him. I was a force to be reckoned with in the battle arena, that was for sure; but he was on a complete other level. To be honest with myself, it was probably s dumb luck paired with his already exhausted power from battling my cousin and Masamune.

A long silence followed, one in which I was afraid to look up. Too many errant thoughts were running through my mind of things he could say or do… I found myself _begging_ silently that he might forgive me, just so that I wouldn't have such awful deeds on my conscience. I wasn't a bad person, and to do bad things like what the WBBA didn't understand they were making me do… I had plenty enough to worry about without one more enemy that could have been my friend.

Finally, as music to my ears, a soft growl came as my answer. "Whatever. You couldn't really beat me anyway. It's not like I was trying, since I wasn't fighting Gingka."

Blinking, I glanced up through my eyelashes before slowly raising my head to study him. His arms were crossed over his chest, head turned to the side with his eyes closed. As I watched, one opened, a smirk pulling at his lips. I couldn't help it, a huge smile burst onto my face and I found myself beaming at him like a fool. In his own way, he had accepted my apology. His pride wouldn't allow him to directly say so, but I understood that. He wasn't a bad guy—he just had a reputation to uphold, much like I did. Maybe I'd be able to get along with him, someday, but for now, I was content with not being the focus of his irritation.

"Would you be willing to battle me again sometime, for real?" The question gushed past my lips, excitement bubbling inside me like foam in a creek. Kyoya turned to look at me, head tilting slightly as the same curiosity as before filed his gaze, this time stronger. A long moment passed and he looked away again, shrugging.

"Cool!" The breeze stirred the strands of hair around my face, spilling new life into me veins. I felt like I was ready for anything. "So, shall we get going, then?"

* * *

**So I know the first part is a lot of dialogue—I wrote it that way to be vague about the location of the base on purpose. And explaining the mission and some other info, etc, all the dialogue couldn't be helped. I promise, I'll make up for it! But fun, right? Yay~ The second chapter's up, I'm so psyched! I'm figuring this whole thing will be eleven or twelve chapters (give or take) plus the prologue by the time it's done. Fingers crossed, it'll be done by the end of July! But onto review responses!**

**MyCorruptKindness: I'm glad you like it so far, that means a lot. And I'm happy I did a decent job with the third-person! I can't wait to see your take on the first-person in this chapter, and the plot I've started on! **

… **She was the only review this time… That makes me sad, you guys. You're going to make me cry, especially when I worked during my vacation to get this posted for you! And I'm already working on the next chapter! Reviews make the world go round, so please, give me your thoughts!**

******Briefly, I'd like to mention that two people have both favorite and followed this so far: MyCorruptKindness and The-Gray-Ninja, both of whom I would like to thank for their commitment. Thanks guys!**

**~Thorn**


	4. Three: The Truth

**Three: The Truth** May 2, 2013

_Koma Village… It's been a long time since I've seen this place. Do you remember bringing me here once, when I was young? You said it was for a family vacation… But I should have known better than that. Even my four year-old mind could perfectly capture the distance between the outside world and this secluded place. You wanted me to find it later. How you knew I would need to be here again eludes me. _

_The village hasn't changed much, as far as I can tell. It still seems to be swallowed by the forest. There are still the nearly empty adobe buildings that loom on all sides, with the large central ring that has the only plants inside the walls. Mount Hagane still looms in the background, surrounded by the not too much smaller mountain range that the clouds can't seem to avoid. The sunset is still as beautiful as it was all those years ago, with the orange and pink and purple strikingly contrasting the blues and blacks of the peaks on the horizon…_

_It's the forest that's changed. I remember how bright and friendly it seemed then—how much I wanted to just stay out there for hours, enveloped in the leaves and branches as the wind softly whispered to me through the trees and the grass…Now, it's a shadowy, threatening mass that closes in around you, cutting off the air traveling down your throat in breathy gasps. There is a heaviness, a thickness, a darkness that doesn't allow for a single misstep. The forest is uninviting, and unforgiving. I can't tell if it's me that is unwanted or if the trees now simply reject all life. There were no birds, no deer, no creatures scuffling among the underbrush. Everything was eerily silent on the journey here…_

_Just the same, I can't ever imagine anyone wanting to destroy this place, especially on so risky a proposal that what he or she is searching for might not be here in the first place. Of course, we know better than that, don't we? Of course the Crystal Hearts lie under Koma. It is an ancient, well-kept secret that the Guardian will die to protect. That is why leaving the Village is risky… Hyoma has done well, though. You would be proud of him. I can see why you entrusted your title to him—he was much more suited to the job than either Lucas or myself. He has never told a soul, not even Gingka. It would have been too dangerous to reveal such a secret… But we may not have a choice now._

_The WBBA are liars. Maybe they didn't used to be, and that's how you could love your job. But these days, the organization is tainted by greed. It is, though, still good at heart, of course, since it does bear in mind the welfare of the beyblading world. However, even those with good intentions can be torn by wealth or power. I have found that this is the case. If Damiano had told the other recruits the true intentions of the WBBA and the real reason for the mission, I doubt they would have accepted. Or maybe they would have—as the threat to Koma Village is indeed very real. The entire area for a hundred mile radius stands a fair chance of being blown to bits if the group that has discovered the location of the diamonds finds what they are searching for. _

_With that said, I'm sure that this group may stand a chance against the unknown opponent that we face. They are a small gathering of some of the strongest bladers on the planet, and their skills are known in every country around the globe. But it isn't their skills that make me believe in all of them. It's their _heart._ Their spirits. You always told me that a blader's true power comes from the energy inside of her—from her emotions and her past. The spirits that shine from these bladers are the brightest I've seen._

_Little Gingka Hagane—do you remember him? The ginger son of that Ryo that is now head of the only uncorrupted branch of the WBBA. He doesn't remember me… but that's alright. Anyway, he's the leader of sorts. He's got a strong heart and an even harder head. He's brave, he's trustworthy, he's proud. He's the kind of boy you would have wanted me to find, with the exception of his appetite. The boy could eat an entire stadium and still ask for dessert. But what makes him strong is his connection to the others—to people like Kenta Yumiya and Madoka Amano._

_Kenta is younger than most of the others—the youngest next to Yuu Tendo. But his age doesn't make a difference. He's following right in Gingka's footsteps, ever trying to become stronger and stronger for the sake of his friends. He isn't afraid to stand up for himself and what he believes in—something to be admired. The kid is gonna go far with that kind of drive…_

_Madoka isn't actually a blader—she's a bey mechanic with a big personality. She's proud, opinionated, and reliable. Without her, there probably wouldn't even be a group left to save the village. I think I like her the best so far; she keeps all the guys in line and isn't afraid to completely smash their heads to pieces if she has to. She's the kind of friend I really want in this life, the kind I can fall back on if I need a shoulder._

_Every group has its loud-mouthed moron, which in this case happens to be Masamune Kadoya. Go figure, the black-haired twit that came to the café to stalk me turns out to be one of my, ahem, 'coworkers' on this mission. At least he's got the shit to back up all that yap. The guy's a scarily impulsive blader with an ocean of power behind him. But I find that even though he _does_ have a big mouth, I like the guy. He means well and cares about all the people he calls his friends. He's willing to do anything for them. Now, if I could just get him to stop hitting on me every five seconds…_

_The youngest member is Yuu Tendo. A little fiery ball of energy with just as much blading ability just about sums him up. As far as I can tell, he just loves to have fun with everything and everyone. He hangs on Tsubasa's hip—I think he found a role model and a brother in my cousin. From what I've seen, he takes care of Tsubasa as much as Tsubasa takes care of him. They've got the kind of relationship I want to revive with Lucas…_

_Tsubasa has really grown up in the few years it's been since I've seen him. He's still pretty quiet, but he's really easy-going around the others. He found a family outside of us, I think. He's serious when he has to be, and trust me, he's one hell of a fighter. He's sweet and kind and everything Allison could want in a guy—she'd flip out worse than she did the first time she met him. Even now, I can remember that reaction. I seem to recall a broken vase as the result from the spontaneous spinning in circles with her arms above her head…I'll have to make sure they get back in touch again; I think I might end up playing matchmaker. Poor guy, he doesn't know what's coming._

_I'm not sure what exactly to say about Benkei Hanawa, other than 'Bu-bu-bu-bu-bull!' That about sums the guy up… He's a freaking _ox._ Six and a half foot tall, stronger than a bull, probably, and he's got the flaring personality and temper to match. He's definitely the muscle of the group. I'd be afraid to get _hugged_ by him, let alone _fight_ him. I'd get rocketed into oblivion for sure. He's friendly, though, which I'm thankful for. And if I said Gingka could eat, I stand corrected. He's an ant compared to this dude. Seriously. _

_There's one more… Kyoya. Kyoya Tategami. … He's… Confusing. And interesting. And terrifying. Strong doesn't even scratch the surface for him. I'm honestly baffled that I beat him when I did, even _with_ him having gotten somewhat tired out from the earlier battle. I know that wasn't his real power. For him to be known as the Beast Blader, it couldn't have been. He didn't earn that title by fighting like a housecat, that's for sure… He even resembles a lion by personality and somewhat by appearance. He's got this rough exterior (probably from all the training he's done) with his ripped up clothes and hard, cold blue eyes. He has fangs. _Fangs!_ As for his personality… He's not cold, exactly… Ambitious, definitely. Driven. Straightforward. So far, it seems like he's in his own little world of how things should be, and no one is going to touch that. He's got a goal, and he's _going_ to get there. If you get in his way, you'll get shoved out of the way. Or attacked, even. He cares about what happens to the others, but it's not his style to hang over them and ask if they're okay. He'd be more likely to tell them to stand up, brush it off, move forward, and get stronger. In a roundabout way, he's really a good person. I feel like there's something he's hiding, though, underneath that tough shell. I saw it in his eyes once. I think he's lonely, honestly. No one _really_ gets him. I know what that feels like. I know how hard it is not to have anyone. I also know what it's like to lose someone who you think _does_ get you…_

_Our mission. Back to that. We're _supposed to _investigate Mount Hagane for the group that seeks to destroy the village. We're just supposed to scout. Kenta said he saw smoke from the top of the mountain yesterday. When Benkei was out in the woods, he felt the ground shake for a moment before going still once again. The WBBA would classify these occurrences as natural and not at all unusual. _

_I know better. As I said, the WBBA are liars. They're signs—signs that whoever we're looking for is pulling to the surface a secret that is better to _remain_ a secret. And I know that how Damiano described our mission to Gingka and the others was almost a complete lie. They don't want us to do surveillance. They don't want us to defeat any of the enemy to have them arrested afterward. They want any competition for the diamonds eliminated. This isn't a rescue mission. It's a murder mission. And possibly a suicide mission. Hyoma and I have to tell them the truth. They deserve to know—even though we don't have a choice but to do what we have to do, or Koma Village won't exist anymore._

_The war is starting. And if we can't stop it, no one will. People are going to die. This isn't a mission to save Koma Village. If anyone gets their hands on those diamonds, the entire world will be in danger._

_And Mama, I'm not sure I'm ready to save the world._

* * *

The sun hadn't poked over the mountains yet, and even at six o'clock on a summer morning, the sky was still dark and gray. The wispy lines of clouds drifted behind the peaks in front of the stars. Below, a heavy mist blanketed the valleys and the village, swirling around the trees and buildings and lying thick on the grass. From where I sat on the roof of one structure, miles and miles of treetops were spread out before me.

The pen I'd been holding made a faint tap as it landed on the notebook beside me. This was the time of day I wished wouldn't end—the time when no one stirred and the world was silent with sleep. I could think now, though whether or not I wanted to was debatable. Such dark thoughts as clouded my mind were almost too painful to be dwelled upon, though they were entirely necessary.

A clicking on the roof behind me signaled the arrival of the boy I had been expecting to come find me. I didn't respond to the movement as I stared up at the large white orb to my left in the sky.

"You still write in that journal?" Hyoma inquired, slipping down to sit next to me. I sighed softly as a reply without looking at him. For another long while, we sat in an uneasy silence, neither of us willing to speak the words we knew would lead to the conversation we didn't want to have. I could sense him there next to me, though; hear his soft, steady breathing, feel the warmth of him where our shoulders almost brushed. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught him shift to drape his arms over his knees. "You've really changed," he finally murmured.

The words took my by surprise—they weren't at all what I expected, and my eyes darted to him startledly. "How do you mean?"

He gave me a smile—one that was halfhearted and didn't reach his blue eyes. I noted how clouded they were. "You used to be so lively. Gingka might not remember, but I do, you know. You chased the both of us around the village, threatening to beat us with tree branches if we didn't talk to you," he recalled softly with a chuckle.

The corner of my mouth turned up slightly. "Yeah. But I couldn't stand to see people hurt then, so I wouldn't have done it if I _had_ wanted to. I was just lonely."

"That's my point. You couldn't stand it then. What about now?" He cocked his head, his light-colored hair swishing over his eyebrows as they furrowed in concern.

That hit me hard. Was he suggesting that I liked to see people in pain? No—he knew me better than that. Didn't he? _Of course he does,_ I said to myself, mentally shaking my head. _He just means that I seem so cold…_ "I still hate it. But I don't have another choice than to stand it. I've seen too much pain and suffering—I've been through too much—to allow myself to react every time I see it. That doesn't mean I don't care… I just know when I have to suck it up." The response felt dry on my tongue as I listened to myself. It sounded, even to me, like a half-assed attempt at trying to convince one of my friends (and possibly myself) that I wasn't just cutting myself off from anything else that could hurt me. I'd been hurt too many times. Acting like I didn't care about anything was a mechanism my mind had developed to protect itself.

"I don't think that's fair," he said quietly, reaching over to squeeze my hand.

I closed my eyes, forcing back the tears that involuntarily formed. I hated myself for being so weak, so vulnerable. "Life isn't fair. Hasn't anyone told you that?"

The look he gave me made it obvious that he'd heard it all too many times. "It's working for the WBBA that made you this way."

It shouldn't have shocked me how easily he could read me, but for some reason it did. He was right, of course. My training had made my body hard and tough, my losses had hardened my mind, and the strain of having to follow orders, even ones that I knew weren't right, in order to protect what was left of my family had left my emotions an irreparable wreck, subject to even the slightest strain placed on them. My heart and my head had had to adopt severe resistive abilities to cope with that strain.

"Yeah, maybe," I mumbled, unable to give a more elaborate answer. Giving a soft sigh, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders comfortingly. I leaned against him, pressing my cheek against his collarbone, thankful for the support. That was the hardest thing for me most of the time—not being able to stand on my own when I felt overwhelmed.

"Have you ever thought about leaving? Just quitting?" The rumble of his voice against my cheek was comforting, and my eyes drifted closed. "You could get away. No more listening to people that don't know what it means to be a person. No more following orders that shouldn't have been given in the first place. You could decide for yourself what you want to do, who you want to be. You could heal. You could find someone out there who means something real to you. You could be _happy_."

The words painted a beautiful picture in my mind—so beautiful it almost hurt. But this kind of hurt I could deal with. I could see myself ten years from now—performing in front of huge crowds of people screaming my name; signing shirts, autographs, taking pictures with fans… Then coming home to a man who loved me for me, with our kids running around our feet and making me stumble before I scooped them up for a hug.

"I've thought about it," I murmured, still savoring the edges of my dream.

"But…?"

"But right this moment, I can't just quit. This mission has too much riding on it to just give up. You know as well as I do that this is much bigger than Koma, bigger than all of us." _And if we don't succeed, there would be no chance of my dream ever coming true,_ I added silently. _We would all die anyway._

"I know that."

Beyond the mountains, the sky had begun to brighten, throwing pale pink rays over the clouds and making the mist around us glow a hue of the same color. The sun would be up soon, and the others would be awake.

"We have to tell them," Hyoma said wistfully.

"I know," I answered bitterly. "They deserve to know what they're getting themselves into. They don't deserve to go on a suicide mission without knowing the end result."

There was silence for a moment before he leaned back to look me in the eye. "Is that really what you think this is?"

"It's a good possibility and you know it." He didn't seem to have a response to that and averted his gaze. I hated to be so harsh with him, but it was necessary. If he wasn't willing to accept it, he could wind up getting himself or someone else hurt. "How does Hokuto feel about you leaving to come with us?"

"He doesn't like it. But there doesn't seem to be any other choice. Besides, I'm the only one that knows where the caves are. You need me to lead you there." He had me there. Despite my knowledge of this area, I hadn't the slightest idea where to find the diamond caves, and none of the others did either. We could have wandered around on the mountain for years and never come across them. I didn't like the idea of stumbling around in the woods aimlessly for months without a guide.

Below us, the creaking of an opening and closing door signaled movement. The sound was repeated three or four times within a five-minute period, and we knew there was no choice but to go to them.

As we stood together on the roof for one last moment, Hyoma caught my eyes in a steady stare. Suddenly, there was a fire burning there—the fire of determination. He wasn't about to let his home be destroyed or his friends get hurt. I could feel his strength, almost like it was pouring into me and soothing aches and pains of doubt.

"We can do this," he said, raising his chin to watch the sun over Mount Hagane. "We can save Koma Village. We can save everyone."

* * *

… **I have no idea where that whole bit with Hyoma came from. No idea at all. Let's get something straight though—he's not a romance interest. He's just the friend she needs to lean on. There is no, I repeat, **_**no**_** possibility of him as a boyfriend for Iris. Sorry you guys.**

**Also—did you guys like the journal entry? It was something else I wanted to try after planning some, and I'm definitely going to do more of them. Maybe not every chapter, and probably not all quite so long.**

**Oh! Did anyone notice I changed the summary? … I hated the old one more and more every time I looked at it. So there you are. **

**I'm on schedule to finish this by the end of the month if I update every other day, and I'm going to work my hardest to do so. If I get a chapter behind, I'll have to update two days in a row, and that's okay. If I finish early, that's great too.**

**Review responses! **

**Darkness Leviathan: AH! I missed you! :D I'm glad you like it so far, that makes me so happy! I can't wait for more of your reviews! I hope this will be so much better than the last one.**

**~Thorn **


	5. Four: Counting Stars

**Four: Counting Stars**

They all hate me. They must—otherwise they wouldn't be so quietly whispering behind me, avoiding my line of sight, refraining from speaking to me. I gritted my teeth, my hands curling into fists in the pockets of my jacket. I should have known better than to think they would understand anything—no one ever did. And I hadn't even told them much of anything about me! Just what I could remember about being in Koma when I was younger, and a little about how I'd ended up as an agent in the first place. Judge me too quickly, beat up on me too harshly, forgive them too easily. That was the normal pattern of these things… But not this time. This time, I wasn't going to let it go like that. If I had to deal with them for any length of time, I wasn't going to allow them to upset me like all the others did.

Lengthening my strides, I quickly caught up to Hyoma, who had remained about ten yards ahead of the rest of the group. Words weren't necessary; he simply paused so I could fall into step beside him as we trekked through a particularly sparse section of mountain woodland. I could feel his eyes burning into me when he occasionally glanced over, as if he was determining what kind of mood I was in and as to whether he should spark up a conversation.

We'd been hiking since before sunrise—the distance between Koma Village and the cave that was our destination was apparently a few days' journey, and we didn't have a lot of time. So in order to cover the most ground in the fewest days possible, we had to start out very early and crash very late. I was used to such rigorous schedules—but I could tell the others, even Tsubasa, were not so accustomed to time-pressed situations like these. Not that it was really any of my concern. I was their 'accompanying agent' not their babysitter.

Though I had to admit, the noon sun overhead was somewhat warmer than normal for May weather. It couldn't last—we were going to end up close to the peak, where there was cold weather, even snow, year round. The sky was clear for now, thankfully, and there wasn't a cloud on the horizon—fantastic news for hurried travelers. Maybe we'd get lucky yet. At least this part of the forest wasn't so dark and gloomy….

Hyoma cleared his throat quietly, drawing me from my thoughts. "Maybe we'd better take a break and let the others catch their breath. Maybe get something to eat, you know?" I barely shrugged a response, and he gave me a short, sympathetic look before dropping his bag and turning to chat with the others. Personally, I couldn't have cared less what they did. If I wasn't anything to them, they weren't anything to me.

_But that's not true,_ my mind whispered. _You liked them just fine before all that… You still do. You're just hurt._

_Shut up, _I growled back, then shook my head slowly as I sat and leaned back against the base of a particularly old pine. _I'm going to go crazy, talking to myself like this. Maybe I already am, though…_

In the midst of my internal arguing, a soft plastic _plop_ in my lap almost had me jumping out of my skin. I stared down at the granola bar in wonder, my mind not comprehending how exactly it had gotten there in the first place. Looking up, my eyes swept the group, all of whom where a decent distance away—except one person. Who happened to be chewing on the same bar as the one on my leg. As if he sensed my gaze, one of his blue eyes opened and he shrugged shortly before returning to chewing.

My stomach fluttered and I dropped my head as I felt my ears get hot with embarrassment. It wasn't like I needed someone to take care of me! Still… He was trying to be nice, right? He was the first, which kind of surprised me. I hadn't expected anything like this… As my stomach grumbled quietly, I decided I may as well eat the damn thing. It was going to be a long time before we could stop again, and I wouldn't have the chance to put anything else in my gut until we did. _It's got chocolate in it…_

I couldn't help but to hum softly as I chewed, leaning back to stare at the others. Maybe since Kyoya had been so nice—even if he hadn't spoken—the others weren't really mad. Yeah, my rational mind said. That could easily be true. They might just be confused and trying to figure all this out—just as much as I was. It seemed like in thirty seconds, the clarity of my thoughts had sharpened considerably. Somehow, I just knew it wasn't my ability to easily forgive that was talking—it was actually deductive reasoning, my mind trailing different possibilities and accepting each one variably. The feeling was almost alien; I'd become so trained to assume the worst right away that it was ordinarily incredibly hard to reason _anything_.

As I watched, Masamune turned and smiled at me, holding up a bag of dried fruit. "Want some?" he called, waving with his free hand. He really wasn't so bad if he wasn't hitting on me. I debated for a moment. If he was okay with it, I didn't see a problem. It was a polite offer, and since we were traveling together, I should be more social, right?

"Sure," I answered, once again surprised at how easily the words came. Standing, I brushed the dirt off my pants and bounded over to him, Gingka, and Madoka. The black-haired male's grin widened and he handed me the pouch. The sweet taste of an apricot on my tongue involuntarily brightened my own expression.

"So you're not mad at us then?" Madoka inquired nervously, standing just behind Gingka and twiddling her thumbs. She really seemed anxious about having upset me—did they accept people into their group so easily that they would be worried about me? How strange. I blinked. _Figures they'd have noticed_… Well, what was one more small twist of the truth to make her feel better?

"Nah. I was just thinking, you know? There's a lot to think about." As if more than she had been waiting for my response, soft sighs echoed around me. These guys sure had some weird takes on friendship… Did they really consider me a friend? My heart swelled at the thought.

* * *

The stars twinkled above me and I rested my head on my hands as I tucked them behind my head. I searched for any constellations I could recognize, smiling when I found one. The sky was wide and open, clear from the interruption of clouds, and the moon was full and grand, casting soft light on the forest around me. A gentle breeze stirred the hair around my face, blew the blades of grass to tickle my skin. It was cooler since we were farther up the mountain, and I knew within the next day or so, we'd be freezing our asses off. Joy. But tonight was a beautiful night, indeed.

My eyes closed and I sighed quietly. There were so many good memories of nights like this buried in my mind—some of them painful to think about. But as always, I was unable to avoid the inevitable. It reminded me of all the times Ray and I would lay in the bed of his truck in the darkness on Saturdays, staring up at the galaxies before us as we contemplated our ever-uncertain futures. The familiar twinge in my chest at the mention of his name was too constant a companion these days, even after so long of being alone. He was gone from my life forever. And I knew that as much as I wanted to believe it when he told me we could just be friends, it wouldn't ever work out for the two of us. We could be dangerous together.

"Iris? Do you know anything about the stars?" Yuu asked, apparently plopping down next to me as I felt the light _thump_. Opening my eyes slowly, I caught him resting his head on his elbows, looking at me expectantly with his orange bangs falling over his bright green eyes. Even if he was thirteen, his light-hearted personality reminded me of a small child's. I immediately felt better looking at the kid. Ray may have been a part of my life once, but I knew with people like this, I didn't need him anymore. And even though sometimes it seemed that I did want him, I knew I really had the desire for bigger and better things—for myself and those I cared about.

"A little." Raising one hand, I pointed out a particular group of stars to our left. "That's the Zodiac sign Virgo, the virgin."

"Cool!" His eyes fell down to study me, and suddenly I felt uncomfortable. The green orbs were serious and analyzing, an unnerving combination coming from such a young mind. "Iris…" My stomach dropped. He couldn't tell I had been hurting, could he? I didn't think that was something I was quite ready to explain yet. "What's it like to have Tsubasa as family?"

I blinked as his head dropped so that he could stare at his lap. The question took me by surprise, but as I got to thinking, it made sense. He was probably incredibly jealous. I'd learned from Kenta that Yuu didn't really had any relatives, and I'd seen for myself how the two of them got along like brothers. To him, though, it must have seemed like everything he wanted to have and couldn't. Levering myself onto my butt, I replied gently, "He's amazing. He's protective, and he cares more than most people I've met. He'd never let anything happen to us."

"You mean you and your brother," he mumbled glumly.

"No," I said sternly, and his eyes shot up and widened at the sharpness of my tone. "All of you guys. You're just as much his family as Lucas and I are." I paused. "Probably more so. You know, up until a few days ago, it had been three years since I'd seen him? We used to be close, but I don't think that's much of the case anymore." I gave him a wry smile, linking my fingers together in my lap. "We've both changed so much. Everything has changed—not that we could stop it—but nothing is the same now. But you, you _are_ his brother. You guys take care of each other more than Lucas and I do. And… I guess that's my fault." I turned my gaze away from him, afraid that if I didn't my heart would explode inside me and I would start crying. I couldn't allow that, not in front of him.

An almost silent rustling behind me signaled that the others had gathered to listen. Go figure. Taking a deep breath, I focused on the trees about a hundred yards away—it was a very large clearing, and we had decided to make camp just inside the woods instead of in the open.

"You know about my mom… And my dad… But…" Coughing briefly, I continued. "It's really not that simple." Looking back over my shoulder, I jerked my head, gesturing for them to come out. "You guys can stop hiding. I heard you."

There was a short silence before everyone flooded out to sit or stand around me, ready to listen. Hyoma seated himself on my other side, draping an arm around my shoulders. I gave him a small, grateful smile, and then looked around at the many pairs of eyes locked on me and the few that weren't, who were staring off into the woods.

"I have a lot of reasons to be such a bitter person… Between my dad disappearing and my mom…" I couldn't even get the last word out, swallowing instead. "There was a lot of complicated stuff going on at the agency after that. Tsubasa can vouch for me in that case. The shorter version of the bullshit I had to go through was that Lucas took over my mom's position for a while, but they kicked him out. They said he wasn't qualified for it and they wanted me to fill the hole in her place. We had the exact _same_ fucking training!" I had to stop for a moment as my voice rose toward the end, taking a breath to soothe myself. "I didn't have much choice _but_ to go. We needed the money so badly; I would have done anything to get it. It didn't help that the WBBA refused to help pay for the medical bills that had piled up… We had a lot of debt on our shoulders. A fourteen year-old girl and a nineteen year-old boy that had no idea how to do anything for ourselves except fight were left not knowing what the hell to do but follow on a job that paid well, whether we were prepared or not. Luckily, Lucas managed to snag an administrative position instead… And he's doing well.

"They worked my ass off from way before dawn to way after dusk everyday. I didn't get to looking like this by just sitting on my ass all the time." My feeble attempt at a joke went unnoticed. "The training was hard for sure. But I didn't complain. It wouldn't have made a difference anyway. But the jobs I got sent on… " A shiver ran down my spine as the unpleasant memories swam behind my eyes. "Let's get something straight. The branch of the agency that Gingka's dad runs is just about the only uncorrupted branch. The WBBA can be exceedingly cruel to both people inside it and outside. I have been made to do some things in order to support myself and Lucas that are against moral values that normal humans should have. Self-preservation. Race preservation. Honor. Trust. Justice… These people lack those things. What I have done in my lifetime has hurt a lot of people, and I hated every moment of it all. If I could change what I did, I would, but I can't."

It was crazy how silent they all were. They were really, _really_ listening. The pressure of Hyoma's arm was the only think that kept me grounded enough not to burst into tears. The steadiness of their eyes was enough to make me feel cared about, wanted, loved even. I knew it didn't make a difference to them when there was no anger in their eyes. They were the kind of people I really wanted around me… But I needed to tell them. And suddenly, I couldn't stop. I had to speak about all this after so long. It would help me move on and get better. I knew I would be happier—just like Hyoma said.

"I became a cold person to those that I cared about because I didn't have a choice—if I wasn't, they'd get hurt too. I didn't want that. So I distanced myself from Lucas, Tsubasa, and my friends… I regret that, too. I hurt a lot more people that way. The only solace I had was music. It kept me here instead or sealed away in my mind.

"I had a partner once—my ex-boyfriend Ray." I expected the pain to worsen at speaking the name aloud, but it didn't. "We performed together back in the US, and I loved him a lot. More than my own life most of the time. I think… After I lost him, that's when everything really went downhill. At the time I was dating him, I was actually deployed back home on a mission. I wasn't allowed to tell him I was an agent because he didn't already know—for fear it would blow my cover. I spent every minute I could with him. But he got more and more upset every time I had to suddenly blow a date when I'd gotten a lead.

"Eventually the case closed and right after than, I sprinted over to his place. I'd built this false reality up in my mind that he loved me as much as I loved him—or maybe he had before I started ditching him. Not that I could help it, but… He didn't know that. I tried to explain everything to him, thinking suddenly we would be okay. I needed him. He was the only thing I had to fall back on since Lucas and I were barely speaking. He believed everything I said… But he was angry. Really angry." I looked down at my hands as I felt tears sting at the back of my eyes. Trying not to cry was becoming more and more difficult. "He didn't like that I'd lied to him for so long, and even though he did believe me when I told him I wasn't allowed to say I was an agent, he thought I should have at least tipped him off some how. I told him I couldn't have. He didn't like that very much either. He screamed and cursed and threw things… he never touched me, not once. Ray wasn't like that. But he was angry. And then…" My throat grew thick, and forcing out words became extremely difficult. "He told me that he would leave me unless I quit my job, knowing I couldn't. And when I had to go, the last words he spit after me were 'If I can't trust you, give me one damn good reason to keep you.' And… I agreed with him. I couldn't ask him to trust me if I couldn't trust myself."

Silence followed for a time that seemed like forever and only a second.

"What an asshole." My eyes widened and flew up to the source of the voice. Kyoya. He sat about four feet ahead of me, legs folded and arms crossed. His lip was curled to reveal one of his fangs, and his blue eyes were filled with a scorn not directed at me. He pretty much growled out the rest of what he had to say. "If he knew you couldn't quit, he shouldn't have asked in the first place. You didn't have a choice but to stay with your job—you wouldn't have had anything. If he really cared about you, he would have told you it was okay and moved on. He should have been grateful he still had you. You deserve better than a dick like that after everything you've been through."

If I had been more coherent, I would have laughed myself stupid at his sudden outburst. He wasn't talkative, and there was real advice in that. It was so very un-Kyoya-like.

But I couldn't laugh. In that moment, something shattered inside of me. And before I could comprehend what my mind had told my body to do, I collided with his chest.

* * *

Kyoya stared down at the girl, uncomprehending. He should be shoving her away, his mind screamed, snapping at her never to touch him—_no one _touched him. He didn't even let Benkei hug him. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't even move. The words he didn't know he'd had spilled through his teeth had affected her in a way that shocked him. The look on her face had said it plainly—it had meant the entire world to her. She'd been startled, of course, but it was something she'd wanted to hear for a long time, and he knew it. It wasn't a lie, though. He'd meant every word, which was probably why he couldn't think to do anything but stare.

Her soft brown hair tickled his chin as she rubbed her face in his shirt, sobbing softly. Her hands fisted in the back of the black jacket he wore, squishing her against him. Even in this state—a slobbery, teary mess—she was beautiful. She shouldn't affect him the way she did. He knew that. He shouldn't be _letting_ her. But she was so sad, so lonely, so small in that moment that there couldn't be the thought in his mind of pushing her away. So he stared.

He could feel the sharp gazes of the others on them, and he jerked his eyes up defensively to see Gingka and Masamune snickering, probably at the baffled look on his face. It was extremely rare for him to be caught unawares without a clue what to do.

"What the hell are you giggling at?" he snapped. They shrunk back briefly before they continued to laugh, leaning on each other as tears rolled down their faces in hysteria. Madoka scolded them harshly as he glared, praying looks really could kill. No such luck.

"We should leave and let her calm down," Hyoma suggested, the light-haired teen catching the green-haired one's eyes. The first didn't want to hear the bullshit that was likely to come from their companions' mouths anymore than the latter did, and was well aware that his friend wasn't going to be moving any time soon.

With some stern words and slapping from Madoka, the others were escorted away. The brunette paused at the edge of the woods to look back at the pair, shooting him a glance of sympathy before following. Well, that was just great. Exactly what he needed—the bey mechanic helping him get rid of annoying pests like he was a wimp while another girl cried into his shirt. Perfect day. Absolutely the way he'd wanted it to end.

And yet… He looked down at Iris again. Her sobs were starting to calm to sniffles, and her grip on his jacket was loosening. He wasn't the comforting-type, so all he could figure to do was awkwardly reach up to pat the back of her head. "You're okay," he mumbled, unsure what else to say.

Slowly, she let her arms drop to hug his waist, her fingers brushing the skin of the small of his back. An involuntary shiver shot up his spine, and he swallowed, stiffening slightly. Startled, her arms moved up.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"It's okay," he found himself saying. As if she was afraid to look at him, her face buried itself into his shoulder. The movement allowed the scent of citrus to waft off of her hair to his nose. He wanted to rubs his face against the top of her head, but resisted, shaking his own slightly to clear it. A long silence followed, once in which he became so nervous that he had to reach up and tug on the ends of her hair to be sure she hadn't fallen asleep. The soft sound of protest she gave was, just like her, beautiful. Her big, dark blue eyes focused on his face, wide and rimmed by thick black lashes and the remnants of her tears.

"What was that for?" Her voice was rough from all the crying, and she sounded tired and confused. He instantly regretted making her move at all, but mentally slapped himself for thinking that way. She'd attached herself to him without asking. He should be angry with her.

"… Wanted to make sure you weren't asleep."

Her answer was a soft hum before she returned her cheek to his shoulder. Without thinking about it, one of his arms had shifted to around her back. "Thank you," she said suddenly.

"For what?" It was a dumb question since he already knew the answer.

"Everything. This. Defending me. Making me happy." The last part took him by surprise. Had he really made her happy just by saying something that was the truth? Not knowing what to say, he grumbled an unintelligible response. That seemed to be happening a lot today—not knowing. It wasn't a situation he was used to being I, or one that he usually liked. But for once, it wasn't really that bad. "I'm serious." Once again, she caught his gaze, her eyebrows furrowed as she studied him. It made him feel incredibly self-conscious, but her met her eyes with a blank look—well, as blank as he could manage with a pretty girl sitting in his lap. "That meant a lot to me. So thank you."

"Whatever."

Despite his flat answer, she grinned widely at him. Then she did something completely off the wall. She leaned up to kiss his cheek. He froze, eyes locked straight ahead as the warmth of her lips left his skin. What the hell? He could feel his ears heat up, and was grateful she probably couldn't see them in the dark.

"Not whatever, Kitty Boy." The grin got wider, and his eyebrows rose. Okay, maybe this girl might actually get on his nerves. Maybe. Or… Maybe not.

* * *

**DON'T YOU LOVE ME? THIS WAS AN ACTUAL FILLER CHAPTER! I'm so proud of myself, I won't lie. It's viable information, and there's going to be at least one more filler before some action. Only about half of this story is a separate storyline from the romance, and after that… -_- Whale face. I think the other storyline I have mixed in with the romance after this main one is mostly about Iris' career as an artist. You'll see. But it's there. **

**Did you absolutely LOVE their little moment? :D Finally getting some KyoyaXIris action. ;) There will be more, I promise. I'm just taking this a little slower this time. Okay? And I liked how I did third-person in his point of view, it gives him some nice depth, I think.**

**I am depressed today. Why am I so depressed, you ask? Because I got a frakking TWO on my AP Calculus BC exam. A TWO. I DIDN'T EVEN FREAKING PASS AND I WORKED MY ASS OFF IN THAT CLASS ALL YEAR. (The AP test wasn't part of our final grade, but still… A TWO). So naturally, I am pissed, depressed, and disappointed with myself. So I come to fall back on something I know SOMEBODY appreciates… My writing. I just want to say, I love you guys. Thanks for all your support. No, thank you isn't good enough. Nothing is good enough to say how much I love you guys.**

**Review responses! … If there were any new reviews…**

**Also, I'm posting this chapter today since I failed to post yesterday. Sorry about that, guys, but my Internet was down. This proves that I'm still working on it though! I promise! I'll probably get the next chapter up tomorrow though. Fingers crossed. This is turning out to be harder to keep up with than I though, but I'm not giving up! PleasepleasePLEASE review! Reviews=inspiration=more chapters. So reviews please!**

**~Thorn**


	6. Five: Snow In May

**Five: Snow In May**

_May 4, 2013_

_I guess Kyoya isn't so heartless after all. I knew under all that tough there was a sweet guy… Yesterday proves it. The words just started coming and I couldn't stop once they did. But everyone was so intent on listening; they really do care about me. That shocked me—how quickly they accepted me as one of them. They're a new family in the making. I think you'd be proud of me for finding people like this to let into my heart. _

_When I started telling them about Ray though, that was when the pain really swelled. And of all people, Kyoya was the one to tell me what I needed to hear, after so many years… He told me what Ray never did. He told me I deserved better. I just lost it then. The look in his blue eyes was like he would have pummeled my ex into the ground, had he been standing there. And I couldn't keep from throwing myself at him. I cried. A lot. And made a fool of myself, even if the others won't say it. But I know I did. Whatever part of my mind that was still coherent totally expected him to shove me off, snap at me. Kyoya's not touchy, and he's certainly not a comforting person. It's not his style. _

_He didn't. I think that was what shocked me most. He just let me cry. To be honest, he was a nice pillow. He smelled like pine and hazelnut coffee. It was a strange combination, but it was perfect. There was a lot of muscle over such a lean frame, I was kinda surprised. I shouldn't have been. I mean, look at _me_. But whatever. When I could finally be embarrassed about crying and tried to apologize, he told me it was okay. He kinda had this rough edge to his voice. Suppressed sympathy, maybe. I should have smacked him for that. I don't like being pitied, but for some reason, with him, it didn't bother me. He even hugged me back once. Oh, did I mention he didn't want me to fall asleep, so he pulled my hair a little? I'd never admit it to anyone, but it kinda brought up some thoughts I don't need about a guy I barely know. _

_I'm attracted to him—more than I was to Ray. How could I not be? I mean, he's _gorgeous._ Any girl in her right mind would be. He's got fangirls swarming him normally, I'm sure. He's one of the strongest bladers in the world, for God's sake. Of course he has fangirls. For some reason I can't place, that bothers me. Not in a jealous way, I don't think. It just bothers me. And to be honest, I couldn't give you an exact reason._

_Even so, I do feel _something_ for him. I understand what it must have been like for him—I met his brother. I was Kakeru's partner for s year. He's great and all, but I could see how he might get annoying to someone a little more serious. (I liked him, though. Maybe I'll go talk to him before I leave—I think I'd like that, and I'm sure he would too.) I learned a little about them then… No parents, no other family… Just each other. And they don't get along at all. So they've got nobody. I feel for him, I really do. I don't pity him—that's not what I would want, and I don't he pities me either. It is how it is. We can't change it, only live with it and move forward. I know that now, and I think he kind of helped me to see that. We talked a lot during the hike today, staying behind the others to murmur to each other so they couldn't hear. I think Masamune might have been a bit jealous, because when we stopped to eat, he had some serious attitude toward Kyoya. I pecked he end of the poor kid's nose and he went all dopey. Typical… But after that, he was okay, skipping along merrily. Madoka and Gingka joined us at the back at one point; I chatted and laughed with them for a bit, but Kyoya didn't seem the least interested. He stayed with us, though, and that's something couldn't quite understand. I think I even caught him smile once at something I said. I've got some sort of freaky connection to this guy. But maybe it's not so freaky… _

_If you caught what I mentioned above, then the answer is yes. I've thought long and hard about the words Hyoma spoke to me and I've come to a decision. You always told me to follow my heart, and my heart is telling me that all of this is wrong. I was never meant to be an agent, and I simply can't stand for this inhumane treatment anymore. I want my life back. I want to be happy. I want to make a future for myself that doesn't involve the shame I feel now. I'm leaving the WBBA if we live through this._

_On a side note, my fingers, though, are freezing. Actually, _I'm_ freezing. We finally made it a decent way up the mountain, and then the freaking sky decided to open up. We were caught in the middle of a blizzard, right before nightfall, and now we're all huddled up in a cave that we were lucky to find through the snow. And may I just say,_ it's the middle of freaking May and there's snow. There should not be snow! _But anyway, it's dark now, and the temperature dropped about ten degrees more since we've been here. My fingers are starting to go numb. I think I have to go for now, Mama. _

* * *

And it was cold. Very cold. Tucking my hands into my heavy jacket (that I'd pulled out of my pack), I nuzzled my face down into the collar to warm my nose. Around me, the others were doing much the same, huddling up together to retain any heat they could find. Except Kyoya. The idiot was sitting toward the front of the cave, arms draped loosely over his knees as he stared outside into the snow. He wasn't even dressed as heavily as we were—he'd refused the snow clothes the agency had offered him, just to keep from injuring the pride we all knew was too great to accept help like that. I had to bite my tongue to keep myself in line, else I might say something I'd regret later. Glancing to my other side, I noted how tightly Madoka and Gingka were squished together, the others in varying groups. I sat closest to Hyoma, and even he sat about two feet away with Kenta and Yuu and Tsubasa. My mind thought better of scooting over next to him and snuggling into his side, though my body craved contact with another human in this icy weather. Truth was, my heavy jacket and snow pants, paired with my insulated hiking boots made it bearable, and as an agent, I thought that it would do well to train myself in conditions like these. But then, I reminded myself, I wouldn't have to deal with this after I left the agency. The idea soothed me.

Looking up, a pair of blue eyes partially covered by light hair met mine. I stared at Hyoma for a moment before his gaze shifted to the front of the cave. I knew where he was looking, and I tried (and failed) not to do the same. To someone who didn't know better, Kyoya was perfectly fine. He seemed relaxed, comfortable, and uncaring as he stared off into the snow. The small things, though, were what gave him away. Where his arms were against his knees, hands hidden behind them, the muscles were tense, signaling tightly balled fists. Ever so slightly he shook, and when he turned his head briefly, I could see that his face was pale and… were his lips starting to turn blue? I blinked several times, but he returned to the original position before I could know for sure.

When I glanced back to my friend, a smile was playing at his lips. I raised an eyebrow and he made the smallest of gestures towards the cave's entrance. My face fell into a scowl, and he gave a tiny shrug, snickering silently. I stuck my tongue out at him before jerking my head away. I couldn't believe he suggested something like that—no, I couldn't believe I _considered_ it. It was ridiculous to think that the little moment the two of us had had in my moment of severe weakness made us friends, because it hadn't. Or had it? The idea made me doubtful. How often did he really let anyone see something like that, let out the softer edge of the person he didn't want anyone to see? The rough teen certainly avoided letting it surface to any of the others. So why me?

As I argued with myself on the matter, my eyes involuntarily settled on the blader of my thoughts. He fidgeted ever so slightly, probably trying to settle into a position to sleep. To my shock, he shivered violently for a moment, and his gaze flew back to the group. _He was checking to see if anyone noticed._ The others, of course, were too worn out from being so damn cold and most were drowsy of asleep. His blue ice blue eyes then dropped to his knees and he swallowed, apparently not catching that I'd been watching. Raising my face from the collar of my heavy jacket, I exhaled slowly, the heat of my breath sending a puff of steam into the air. Well, that did it. If he was going to be an asshole about being cold, then I was going to have to be an even bigger one for him not to lose fingers to frostbite or freaking _die_.

So before he could protest, I'd stood, stumbled over (my current attire wasn't particularly weighty, but it was enough when combined with my lack of energy) and plopped down against his side.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kyoya hissed lowly.

"Shut up," I huffed back. "You're too fucking proud to say you're cold; I'm freezing my ass off so I know full good and well you are."

"I don't need your damn help," he snapped, apparently trying to scoot away. He lost it, though. I saw it in his eyes. He'd waited a second too long, and even he couldn't deny what warmth he'd gotten from me sitting next to him.

I gave a soft, bitter laugh. "You want your fingers to fall off? Your lips are fucking _blue_. So sit there and shut the hell up or so help me God, I will pin your ass to the floor of the cave." And with that, I stuck my hands back out of my sleeves, grabbing his. They were so cold it almost hurt my skin, and I set about rubbing them, trying my hardest not to look up. He grumbled quietly but didn't attempt to pull them away, further proof of just how cold he really was. When I was satisfied that he _wasn't _in danger of frostbite anymore, I snuggled into his side, wrapping my arms around his waist tightly. Even when he was cold, he was warm, and I welcomed the comfort.

"Is this really necessary?" he mumbled. It was a weak protest though; he was recovered enough to be drowsy like the others now, and I could feel his weight leaning against me.

"Shut up," I murmured back, laying my cheek against his collarbone and closing my eyes. With another small huff that I could feel on my forehead, he went silent. The last thing I remembered before sleep took over was the soft rising and falling of his chest against my cheek.

* * *

The light of the morning past my eyelids was what drew me from the depths of unconsciousness to the real world. Giving a soft groan and forcing my eyes open a slit, I had to avert my gaze from the mouth of the cave to the darkness further in. The sun hurt. It was warmer now—a nice change from the below-freezing temperatures of the night before, though it still couldn't be considered Spring weather. My mind took an extra-long time to come back to the present, and my body even longer to recognize a weight on my right side. Huh?

I turned my head slowly, causing a soft bit of hair to tickle my chin. A fit of poorly suppressed giggles welled in my chest as I stared down at the green-haired male. He gave a soft sound of protest from the back of his throat, shifting so his cheek was against my shoulder and tightening his arms around me. Was he supposed to be this damn _adorable?_ Maybe not, but… His hair was a mess, pieces stuck to his skin and the light indentation of fabric on the side of his face I could see left a smile on my own. His lips were parted, one fang showing ever so slightly. As the sound escaped his mouth, his eyebrows scrunched momentarily before he gave a quiet sigh and relaxed again. Gentle puffs of warm breath tickled my neck and I stared down at him, baffled by the satisfaction I felt inside me. I had the urge to reach up and trail my fingers over the crosses on his face, but thought better of it. There was no protest from him now that his body had its free will, no mind to block it. He really _wanted_ to be there. The thought saddened me. There was probably no one that cared about him enough to ever have done anything like this.

When he'd shifted, I glanced down at the position this left us in. Although originally I'd been leaning against him, that seemed to have changed in the past hours. One of his ankles was crossed over mine as his knees bent up. His hip was pressed against my own and he didn't appear to have any intention of letting go of me any time soon.

Giggles from across the cave redirected my attention. Madoka was staring at me, her eyes gleaming in amusement and a hand over her mouth to avoid waking the others. I couldn't help but to grin back like a fool. What else was I supposed to do? For the moment, at least, it seemed as though the big bad beast wasn't so big and bad, and that was at least partially thanks to me. A short _humph_ and a snicker signaled Hyoma was awake, and I glanced to him, the grin widening as he rolled his eyes. So far, it appeared to be just the two of them who were conscious. I shifted so that my tailbone wouldn't end up numb, and again, Kyoya protested, only this time, it was louder. I felt his eyes flutter against my neck. My eyes widened and I closed them briefly several times at the others. They got the idea and pretended to be unconscious once again.

"'S it morning?" the boy at my side mumbled.

"Mmm."

"Fuck that," he muttered, even lower this time. I gave a soft laugh.

"Comfortable are we?" I teased, lightly poking his arm.

He grunted. "You make a good pillow." I leaned my head back against the wall of the cave, smiling widely at the ceiling. He wasn't awake yet, and that certainly had an effect on what he said. Even so, it made me happy that he wasn't being an ass about. A silence followed, and I felt him move and let go as his senses returned to normal. Dropping my gaze again, I caught him stretch and yawn, the muscles of his stomach tightening. I bit my tongue. "Is anyone else up yet?" The words were pointed, and I knew he was asking if anyone had seen him like that.

"Nah," I lied easily. "They sleep like rocks." I stood, stretching my stiff legs, and headed to the mouth of the cave, unzipping my jacket. The blizzard had stopped and the sky was clear, but at least six inches of snow covered the ground, and that was going to make it much more difficult to trek through the mountains. I frowned, leaning on my left foot as I contemplated the situation we were stuck in. Of course we didn't have a choice but to keep going; but this was definitely in line to cause some unneeded issues.

I didn't know how long I stood there, but eventually I became vaguely aware of the movement of the rest of the group behind me. Murmurs of 'good morning' and 'man I'm tired' and 'geez it was cold' reached my ears, and I could identify the rustling of backpacks opening to grab breakfast. To be honest, my own stomach was still too full of butterflies to eat, though I was ashamed to admit it.

"Hey Iris?" I looked back over my shoulder to see Yuu crunching on a cereal bar and watching me curiously.

"What's up, kiddo?" I asked smoothly, turning to lean back on the rock wall of the cave.

"Why are you so nice to everyone now? I mean, I know you've told us stuff, but I'm so confused."

A light blush rose to my cheeks as I realized what he was inferring. Maybe more people had seen then I'd originally thought, and that worried me slightly. Not because I cared that they'd seen, but because that brought forward the possibility that Masamune had seen, and that left a bitter taste in my mouth—I wasn't looking forward to hearing his bitching or jealously if he had. Coughing slightly, I replied, "Well, I guess 'cause you guys have treated me better in the not-even-a-week I've known you than most people have in my whole life. So I don't see a reason to be rude if you've accepted me like that." I shot him a thankful smile, one that he returned twofold.

"What is this cave, anyway?" Gingka asked, glancing around. "We walked forever and there was nothing—it's not like random caves just pop up."

"He's got a good point… Where are we, Hyoma?" Kenta seconded.

My light-haired friend frowned. "I'm not sure. Honestly, there shouldn't even _be_ a cave here." He paused, eyes sweeping the area. "The rock is too smooth for this to have been natural…"

"So you think someone _made_ this?" I stared at him in surprise, and when he met my eyes, we both had the same thought because his darkened significantly.

"Only one way to find out!" Masamune exclaimed, fisting his hands and taking off deeper into the rocks.

"Masamune!" Madoka moaned.

"Guess we'd better follow him," I pointed out, heading the direction he'd left.

The light quickly withdrew from our vision, leaving us in total darkness, made to feel along the walls and slow down to ensure we didn't trip. The ground under our feet grew rougher, and I frowned to myself. No one spoke, almost as if they were afraid something would come out of the dark if they were to break the silence. I could feel Hyoma close behind me and hear Gingka in front of me by the swish of his scarf. The deeper we went, the more it seemed that there was no end to this cave. I began to worry. How long had we been fumbling around in the dark?

The clanking of metal just in front of me almost sent me jumping out of my skin.

"There's a metal grate under my feet," Gingka reported, followed by more shuffling. "You were right, Hyoma. This isn't natural."

"Let's keep moving," Kyoya said. "If this is here, there's got to be more ahead."

As he'd predicted, a pale glow came from about two hundred feet farther. I leaned on the wall, blinking at the coolness of the material that touched my hands. Glancing sideways, I could faintly see Hyoma nod. Backing up, we threw ourselves at it, stumbling as our shoulders broke through and we were thrust into the dim (but still much brighter than the cave) light of a hallway. The metal and screen door clattered to the tiled floor.

None of us dared to breathe for a moment. This place looked much like the inside of the WBBA headquarters: whitewashed walls, low ceilings, tiled floors, and electronic pads on the walls that no doubt allowed access to the rooms along the hall. My eye caught the slow movement of a security camera, and I tapped my toe once to Tsubasa.

"There's cameras…" I muttered. "Something's going on down here, and I don't think they're going to be too happy we've found this place."

"I say we keep moving," he murmured back. "We can deal with anyone that shows up as they come." The others nodded agreement, and we split into smaller groups to explore: Gingka, Madoka and Masamune, Kyoya, Benkei and Kenta, and Tsubasa, Yuu and myself.

"I wonder what this place is for, anyway," Yuu said, arms behind his head as he strutted along next to us.

"It's probably related to the activity at the peak, if I had to guess," I responded darkly. Pausing at the end of a hallway, I glanced around the corner before motioning for them to follow. To our immediate left was a room full of computers, and as I peered inside, curiosity got the better of me. Jiggling the door handle, I was shocked when it opened. "C'mon, you two. Tsubasa, stand guard." There was no time to waste. Plopping down in one of the chairs, I clicked the monitor's power button. _No password to login either?_ This was getting weirder and weirder. Browsing around as quickly as possible, I found a file on the facility. Glancing around, I saw a printer on the far side of the room. _How convenient…_ It was almost too easy. Printing a map, I went over to grab it before once more returning to the computer.

"What does it say this place is for?" Tsubasa asked, peering up and down the hall.

Skimming another file, I replied, "It's just like we thought, there's a bunch of stuff in reference to sub-crust mining. And there's this acronym that keeps coming up—RMT. I think it's the company that's managing the whole operation, but I've never heard of them before. Powering down the monitor, I passed the map off to him. "At least we won't get lost now."

My cousin studied the paper for a moment and pointed to the central ring. "This large circle of rooms here—it wouldn't make any sense for sure a large area in the center to be open."

I nodded, understanding what he was getting at. Without another word, we took off, passing many more doors and peeking around just as many corners. The closer to the middle we got, the more highly decorated the halls became. Elaborate paint schemes, random photographs, carpeted floors; what the heck would a mining facility need to be so high-class for?

"The ring should be just up ahead." When the hall ended, we were brought to the large, circular room we'd expected—but it left us speechless. I turned to look at Tsubasa, my mind unable to process what was sitting in front of me and hoping he might be able to. As I did, I caught a large black mass move behind him. As I screeched out a warning, he did the same, and we were left to watch the other in horror as we were encased in solid holds, fabric shoved up to our noses. After about ten seconds, the world started to spin. _ This sickly sweet smell…!_ The last thing I saw before the blackness took over my vision were the amber eyes across from me, pleading me to fight.

* * *

**… God I'm awful. Yes, I realize how bad the last part was about them wandering through the cave and the facility. It was HORRID. I know. But even after editing it three times, I couldn't think of a way to make it better. So I'll make it up to you next chapter, I promise! But at least the beginning was good, right? RIGHT? … I hope.**

**Anyway, the next chapter is going to be interesting for sure. None of you can guess what's going to happen… and if you do, I will give you an Internet cookie. :3 I'll definitely have the next chapter up later today, so look forward to that.**

**With that said… No reviews again… Geez guys… I mean, I'm not expecting huge earth-shattering feedback, but there's a little comment box at the bottom there, see it? You don't have to have a profile to review. Please put **_**something, **_**even if it's only a quote or something. Constructive criticism is also welcome! **

**~Thorn**


	7. Six: Chloroform Heartache

**Six: Chloroform Heartache**

My head was pounding so hard that I was sure my skull had to be in pieces. My thoughts were so fuzzy that I couldn't even distinguish up from down, and I was under the impression that my limbs had either been squished flat by large rocks or they were no longer attached to my body, because I couldn't feel them at all. What the hell was wrong with me? Was I dead? No, I was in too much goddamn _pain_ to be dead. So what was it, then?

Slowly, I could see lights farther than my eyelids, and some feeling returned to my limbs, but I still couldn't move them. The burning of rope on my skin told me that I was tightly bound, and the bite of fabric in my mouth proved to most certainly be a gag to keep me quiet. I tried hard to remember how I'd gotten like this, but the agony in my skull kept me from doing so. The gag muffled a soft groan, and I tried to shift my weight from where I was lying huddled on my side. A low hushing sound came from above me and the fabric was removed long enough to have pills pushed into my mouth, followed by a few gulps of water, only to be replaced once again. I didn't fight back—I was too weak and disoriented to even bother.

To my relief, the thumping in my head began to ease as I laid there with my cheek pressed against the cool of the tile floor. I could feel fingers gently stroking my hair and face, warm and hesitant in their motions, and it shouldn't have been as comforting as it was. I was in an unfamiliar place, drugged to high hell, bound and gagged, but strangely couldn't have been more at ease. Maybe it was a sedative or something. Slowly, I cracked my eyes. The room was dark, except for a small flickering light source in front of me about three feet off the ground—a candle, I assumed. The darkness was good, because my eyes were unable to focus enough to make out anything more than shapes and, had there been a light, I would have been blinded by it for certain.

"Are you finally awake?" a deep voice said softly. It was familiar, but my mind had yet to return to any state for me to recognize it. All I could offer was a muffled grunt in response, attempting and miserably failing to raise my head. A quiet sigh came from a hair above me before there was a slight pressure at my temple—had the person just kissed me? "Stupid Iris," he mocked bitterly. How did he know my name? "You weren't supposed to find this place. This wasn't supposed to happen. Everything was going perfectly fine before you and your friends decided to stick your noses where they didn't belong… This isn't what I wanted for you at all. I was going to get stronger and make a bunch of money so I could go back and see you and we could be happy, even if only for a short time."

His voice brought me to full consciousness and I turned my head to look up at a pair of sad green eyes. My body instantly flinched away, slamming backward on my knees, my shoulders flush against the wall and my hands keeping the small of my back forward slightly. I stared at him with eyes the size of dinner plates, my breathing coming heavily through my nose as I involuntarily began to hyperventilate. This couldn't be happening… _Please, God no. Anyone but him._

"Sh," Ray whispered, crawling over to sit on his knees in front of me before reaching up to brush the backs of his knuckles over my cheek. The contact burned and I shrunk away as far as I could, my body rejecting his touch like a poison. "Stop that, now," he scolded, gripping my chin and raising so I was back to eye-level with him. "It's not my fault you're here you know. You never _have_ been able to behave yourself. And this time, you brought some friends into the mess with you." He tsked, glancing back over his shoulder and shaking his head slightly. My blood chilled as I followed his gaze to a group of bodies on the floor across the room, all tied up with rope and gagged like I was. Tears stung the back of my eyes and my chest seared. Maybe it wasn't my fault that we'd stumbled across this place, but the guilt didn't seem to understand that.

I met his gaze pleadingly, and he cocked his head to the side, dark curls bouncing slightly at the movement. "If I ungag you, you'll just scream for help. We can't have that—it's highly unprofessional." I shook my head furiously, the wetness in my eyes sticking to my lashes. He couldn't honestly think I'd do that. It wasn't like it would do any good anyway, since we were a long way below ground and everyone who worked here was against us. A long moment of silence followed before he hesitantly said, "Fine, but the first time you raise your voice, I put this back in your mouth. Got it?" I nodded vigorously.

The fabric fell to around my neck when he loosened it and I took a deep breath. This was happening, whether I wanted it to or not. Maybe I could figure out a way to make him let me go, if I was careful about it. "Ray how could you? I trusted you!"

That was _definitely_ the wrong thing to say. "I'd watch what you say if I was you," he hissed. "And you don't know what it's like to have your trust betrayed, Little One." The tone he used was threatening, but the affectionate nickname he'd created for me tacked on to the end left me severely confused. Was he angry or was he trying to get me to talk to him? Taking a shaky breath, he calmed himself enough to level his voice, but his green eyes were still guarded. "I didn't exactly have a choice in this anyway. If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't the one that did this. It was all the guards you had following you around. I was just told to watch all of you—not a huge task since you're all bound up."

"Thanks, but that really _doesn't_ make me feel better," I remarked bitterly. He gave a shrug.

"Doesn't matter. I tried." He sat back, crossing his legs and leaning on the wall beside me as he fiddled with the loose ends on one of my leg ropes. "Your cousin seems well. He's still an agent, I assume." I could tell where this was headed, and I cursed myself for that. All his ramblings always started like this… But if I could bite my tongue and hear him out, there was a chance he'd feel sorry for me. It was a long shot, but I didn't have any other option. "You know, I never really did like him, though. He was too quiet, kept too much to himself. Sure, he's a decent blader, but if you've got such a dull personality to pair with it, you're useless." I bit down on the inside of my cheek. Fuck with my family now, huh? That was a low blow and he knew it. "Quite some company you've chosen to keep, too. The Guardian surprised all of us—no one expected him to leave the village," he mused. I winced. Outside Koma, we were positive not a soul knew about that, and I surely never told him. Where did that information come from? "Quite disappointing, though, really. Apparently he was even easier to take down than the two children—what were their names? Kenta and Yuu, wasn't it?" He didn't pause for an answer. "Gingka and Masamune, though, they were interesting. Is Gingka dating the other girl? I watched _that_ capture on camera. He protected her like it was his whole life. The big guy, he put up one heck of a fight. Those guards had bruises when they finally made it back to the meeting room. Took an awful lot of rope, too. But that was _nothing_ compared to the lion kid. Now _those_ guys, they had freaking bite marks and deep cuts. Apparently they had to call for backup with him." Ray threw his head back and laughed maniacally, obviously enjoying their pain.

This was not the same boy I'd known, and this new him terrified me. I had the feeling he wouldn't be at all hesitant to lay a hand on me, or anyone for that matter, and he was much stronger now than before. All the more reason for me to be careful when I dealt with this.

"The real fun hasn't even started yet, though." That got my attention and I turned my head to him, watching in honest curiosity. He looked back with the lopsided grin I'd once loved and it made my heart hurt to look at him, knowing that what I saw wasn't the real Ray. "I can tell you if you want. It's not like it'll make a difference, anyway…" The end of that sentence hung in the air, almost the beginning of a prophetic quote. He waited for me to murmur my approval before continuing. "It'll be beautiful, Sweetheart. The world when we're through." He stretched his arms above his head, extending his legs. "There won't be any more suffering because everyone will be able to trust everyone else—something that is a major flaw in the current world." A sneer crossed his face. "Not that there will be too many people left after The Cleansing, anyway."

"The Cleansing?"

Another sharp laugh echoed around the room. "Just another name for the plan that Master has come up with. All the _kurisutaruhato _under Koma Village is enough to create an army of the strongest souls ever to exist."

"I hate to tell you, but it takes a lot of time for contact with the crystal to have any effect," I told him snidely.

"Don't make me gag you again. Just shut up and listen to me for once." My jaw snapped shut and I suppressed the glare I wanted to direct at him. "What you said is true, but only when the crystal has _normal_ exposure to the human body. What Master has planned is much, much better. The ample amount of large formations of red diamond under Koma Village has led the research team to devise a plan to separate out those with weak spirit from those strong enough to survive in our New World. Of course, the mining of all this crystal will definitely destroy the village, but there will be no need for it when the world is equal," he mused with a sinister smile. "When light is reflected through the crystal, the power is amplified. The sun is too strong—it disintegrates whatever the light comes into contact with. Therefore, these Cleansings can only take place on the nights of the full moon." I couldn't help but to snort, and as I did, I was sure he would smack me or regag me, but instead, he laughed along. "It sounds like a horrible Hollywood film, I know. But it's the truth. I survived it, I would know. It's how I became so much stronger."

I swallowed, the meaning behind his words sinking in. "There were people that didn't?"

"Of course. Those whose bodies or minds couldn't withstand the strain of so much energy being forced into them at once—the pain is immense, but completely worth it if you survive."

"And… You said it didn't matter if you told me. You're assuming that when I get put through that process, I'm going to die." There wasn't a doubt in my mind that whoever's idea this was would be sure that my friends and I got put through unbearable torture before we died.

"Silly girl," he teased, reaching up to twirl a bit of my hair around his finger. "I _know_ you won't. You're always feeling too guilty, too sad, too angry for your mind to handle that kind of input. One who does not keep her emotions in check has no chance of ever being useful to anyone, and you most certainly cannot," he hummed. "Nor can any of the others—they care too much about each other. The Blader Spirit they're always referring to won't do them one bit of good against a power like that. It's a blurred concept that may have falsely allowed them to defeat common enemies, but it didn't help them do anything they didn't already have in them to do. They are, however, incomplete as people."

I wanted to rip his throat out for saying that. No one had any right to degrade my friends—no, my family now. No one. "And on the off chance we survive, we get let into this New World you're talking about without a fight?"

The next expression that crossed his face was the most evil thing I'd ever seen. "Of course not. We'd have to kill you ourselves. People like you can't be allowed to live."

My blood ran cold as all the pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place. Although he claimed that they were sorting out the strongest people to create a New World where everyone would be equal, now I knew better. The truth of it was that no one had stronger spirits or bodies than the people across the room from me. If Ray had survived, I knew they all would. I, though, was a different story. He was right in that respect—he had better control of his emotions than me. My body might have been able to deal with it, but I knew my mind couldn't. Not that it mattered. They were just going to pick and choose those they wanted and kill those they didn't; I wouldn't have put it past them to avoid shining the crystal on people they wanted if they knew the person couldn't handle it. This wasn't a Cleansing. It was mass murder. This was a second Holocaust.

"You can't do that!" I cried. "You're going to kill innocent people, Ray! People that have lives and families that have never done a single thing wrong!"

That angered him, and he yanked the fabric around my neck back up to my mouth, tying it tighter than before. "I wish you would hold your tongue. Besides, I'm not doing anything that you haven't already done." The sadistic gleam in his eyes shunned me into submission. I dropped my head, tears freely rolling from my eyes and dripping off my nose onto my leg. I trembled. He was right. I'd hurt too many people. Maybe the others deserved to live, but it was true that I didn't. There was no use trying to avoid it. He was going to torture all of us, and we were all going to die. Or, at least, all f that was what I would try to convince him of. "There, now, see? Isn't that much better? If you just give in, it won't hurt so badly, at least for the moment." He chuckled darkly. "Don't worry, I've arranged for you to be the very last, though. I want you to watch all the others die first. And then I'm _really_ going to enjoy watching _you_ die." A soft whimper escaped my lips, like I didn't have the self-respect to be ashamed. "Hush. I have to go now, but I'll be back for you later, I promise." Leaning forward, he first kissed my cheek and then my neck. A furious snarl came from across the room as he did so, and he turned away from me, standing and pacing over. I stared at the form at his feet, my vision blurred by tears I forced out too easily. The cry of pain that escaped my throat as he kicked hard into the back of the person was very real though, and I glared at him as he snarled, "Shut up, you."

As he stormed out, lightly flooded the room briefly. It was a second too long—my eyes met blue ones across from me, and I caught the disappointment and hurt flicker there before he turned his head away.

Well, what a fine way to react when I was worried about him! Sniffing, I shook my head to clear my vision and coughed around the fabric. If I ever got out of these ropes, the first thing I was going to do was shove a bunch of them down Ray's throat. Somehow I could say I wasn't surprised that he'd ended up this way, but it worried me just the same. He'd spoken several times of his Master—that was what made my gut turn and knot inside itself. Ray was too stubborn to follow someone, which was to say, he was a born leader that had always held his own wellbeing above everyone else's. So for him to so easily follow this Master, we were almost certainly dealing with someone who held an extreme amount of power.

A muffled grumbling stole my attention, and Masamune and Madoka both jerked their heads from where they had managed to sit up. I blinked, taken aback, and stared back at them. As they repeated the action, they both nodded in agreement. I shimmied my way over to all of them, sitting back on my knees. Masamune bent forward, twisting his head slightly to gesture to my hands. I nodded, and turned to put my back to him as he bent forward farther. I snagged my fingers under the back of his gag, gripping it tightly as he slipped backward out of it. "Gah! That thing is evil," he whispered. "Let me get yours, then we can try and undo these knots."

The three of us managed to get our gags off, but it seemed like sitting back to back in an attempt to untie the bindings wasn't working at all. "Masamune, stay put."

"What're you gonna do?"

"Trust me." Taking a deep breath, I lowered my face to where his wrists were secured at the small of his back. It wasn't quite a comfortable position to have my face so close to a location that was usually considered intimate, but I didn't really have a whole hell of a lot of choice. I studied the knots for a moment before grabbing a strand with my teeth and pulling sharply. First knot, down. The rest were more complicated, and I was sure I'd have lockjaw if we ever managed to—

"Ah!" He gasped slightly as he could pull his hands free, reaching down and pulling the ropes around his chest over his head.

"Alright!" Madoka cheered quietly, her eyes shining. "Now get your legs and untie our hands!"

I guess with free fingers, the restraints on his legs weren't too difficult to slip out of at all. In a matter of ten minutes, the three of us were able to stand and stretch. "Let's wake up the others and figure a way out of here!"

Fumbling around in the dark _again _wouldn't have been great, so if I could be thankful for anything, it was that my evil ex had left the lit candle siting on the table for us to grab. It was too dangerous to try to burn the ropes off, but at least we weren't blind.

"Hold still," I grumbled to Yuu as I yanked at the bindings on his arms.

"Ouch! But that hurts!" he complained, grinding his teeth.

"Well, sorry. There." I helped him to his feet and he rubbed his wrists gingerly where they'd become raw.

"So what now?" Gingka asked as Madoka pulled him off the ground.

"What else? We find a way out of this damn room and find our beys. Then, whatever," Kyoya retorted sharply. _Nice attitude._

"We don't have a chance of getting out of here through a vent since the biggest one there—" I pointed to the far corner of the room, "is way too small for even Kenta or Yuu to wiggle through. The door is key-card locked, and it's heavy-duty steel. We'd just hurt ourselves trying to break out of it."

"So, what, we're stuck here?" Masamune paled.

"Maybe not. Just however we get out can't be conventional."

"Wait, I've got an idea." I didn't like the look in Kyoya's ice blue eyes when he stared at me right then.

* * *

I couldn't believe he'd suggested this. I couldn't believe they'd all _agreed _with him. Wait, yes I could. It was the most reasonable course of action, sadly. That didn't mean I had to like it.

"Ow!"

The plan-creator smirked up at me from where he was tying the ropes at my feet again. "Too tight?"

"Didn't know you had a thing for bondage," I prodded snidely, my lip curling slightly. "It's kinda hot."

Rolling his eyes, he held up the gag. "Now I can see why letting you out of this might not have been so appealing to that guy."

Feigning hurt, I shrunk back. "I'm not that bad…"

"Whatever. Open your damn mouth." I almost chortled. We were _not _having this conversation. It wasn't the best way to follow my bondage comment—not with something that could be taken extremely suggestively out of context. The look on my face must have said it all, and he glared at me as he put the fabric back in my mouth. "How're you doing holding the ropes for your upper body?" In response, I pulled at them so they tightened, wrapping the ends around one of my palms as I crossed my wrists. The position left my shoulders pushed back and chest forward, and as I curled my legs slightly to the side and under me, I leaned back slightly. I didn't miss his eyes moving over my body, the brief flash of hunger in them, or the way he swallowed hard before turning to the others. Well, what'd you know. He was just as human as the rest of us. "Right, so the rest of you get back."

"Now we wait?" Gingka asked as they squished themselves back against the wall by the door.

"Now we wait," Madoka murmured.

* * *

**Thisssssssss. Doesn't this sort of make up for the sucky ending on the last chapter? Sort of? Please? …. Considering I'm posting this so quickly after the last one, I didn't expect any reviews. Soooo….. But still! That little box at the bottom? Leave me a comment, please? PLEAAAAAASE. Don't make poor little me beg.**

**Didn't you guys **_**love**_** the bondage jokes? Haha, it's actually an inside joke with me and my friends. No, I don't think Kyoya has a bondage fetish. But somebody should write a citrusy lemon for that… Hm… maybe as an add-on I'll do it later. But only if I get more reviews and followers! PLEASE review. Please. Please.**

**~Thorn**


	8. Seven: Daddy Wants You Dead

**Seven: Daddy Wants You Dead**

Waiting was indeed the hardest part of his plan—something Kyoya knew from the time Iris was fully bound once again. _And he'd been the one to do it._ The look in her eyes had been dark as she watched his hands with the ropes, and even though she'd teased him for it, it had really pleased her. The thought sent shudders through him, which he was very careful to not allow the others to see.

Honestly, it scared him to death how easy it was to just be himself around her… Or, the himself that no one else saw. She was pretty, sweet, thoughtful, tougher than she let herself think, and she could beat the hell out of Gingka or Masamune if she needed to—always a plus. The attitude he gave her bounced right off like there was an invisible shield around her, and she'd pushed herself past all the barriers he'd built around him to settle right where he'd never wanted anyone to get close to. She wasn't like any other person he'd ever met, male or female, and she'd been through some tough shit, too. He'd had a rough life, what with his parents being gone and having no contact with his brother, so he'd had to train himself and harden his will so that nothing could smash him into tiny pieces. None of that meant a damn thing to her. Iris made him feel wanted. She cared about him—she proved that when he'd nearly frozen his ass off. Above everything, though, she was _dangerous_. He was unwilling to trust her for the simple reason that he was afraid of her and of what she might do if he let her in.

Unconsciously, his eyes shifted to stare at her relaxed form across the room. She was hunched in the corner, left cheek pressed against the wall as she leaned on it. Her eyes were closed and for a moment he wondered if she had fallen asleep, what with her slow breathing and limp limbs, but decided against it since the ropes were still taught against her chest. No, that was what she wanted anyone who saw her to think; it was all part of the scheme. He bit the inside of his lip softly as he watched. Damn, he promised he'd never let a girl have this effect on him. A soft nudge on his left side almost made him jump. When he glanced down, Madoka was looking off into space and he instantly understood. She'd noticed him staring but wouldn't warn him out loud to stop because that would be like calling him out on being weak. He was grateful and dropped his gaze to the floor to study his boots. They were worn and rough, the laces frayed. He'd have to get a new pair when they finally managed to get out of here. His pants, too, were torn and beaten. Shopping was pretty low on his list of necessities, but it was there. Even he knew the point when barely skating by wasn't good enough.

A low buzz outside the door shook him from his thoughts and his body went on red alert. Show time. Light flooded the room and Iris stirred, making soft noises as though she'd been asleep. "Hi Sweetheart," Ray purred. Kyoya wanted to beat the living shit out of him—but he forced himself to wait. "Miss me?" The door slid shut behind him as he made his way to her, and when it did, they attacked. It took him, Gingka _and_ Masamune to wrestle him to the ground. "What the hell? How did you get out of those ropes?" he snarled through his teeth, eyes spitting poison at them.

"Well, _Sweetheart_," Madoka sneered, snatching the keycard from his pocket, "we're a lot brighter than you take us for. Kenta, got the rope?" With that, they proceeded to wrap him up twice as tightly as they'd been, cutting off a 'don't you dare' when they shoved the fabric knot into his mouth.

"You're such a dick, Ray." Iris' voice drew Kyoya from his moment of dark satisfaction as she dropped her own bindings onto the ground next to the man at his feet. "I can't believe I ever trusted you." Crouching, she smiled down at him. "There's too much darkness in your heart for you to ever be worth a damn thing to anyone," she crooned, stroking his hair as she twisted his own words back against him. The green-haired male felt an involuntary grin spread across his face as she stood and nodded to him. The emotion startled her, though, and she regarded him confusedly, violet eyes widening as she raised her eyebrows.

"What?"

"You're such a bitch, Iris," he said, grin widening to the point it was almost painful. The girl had a knack for words that hit straight home, and the pain in her ex's eyes verified that. She shoved her friend roughly, chortling.

"Yeah, and you're such an asshole sometimes, Kitty Boy." A long moment passed of them staring at each other before she had to lean on her knees in an uncontrollable fit of giggles, him chuckling as he ran a hand back through his hair.

"Can we talk about this later, you two? We kinda have an escape going, and it won't be long before they realize he never came back," Yuu told them pointedly. Kyoya shot the younger boy a look before nodding. Madoka slid the card through the reader beside the door, peering out. "It's clear for the moment, guys. Let's get going!"

Hall after hall, room after room they searched for their beys, but there was nothing. In fact, the entire facility seemed abandoned. Kyoya frowned as he poked his head through a door, peering around at the lab tables inside. "What're you staring at?" Iris ducked her head under his arm that was extended to the doorframe, glancing around before her eyebrows furrowed and she squeezed into the room. "What _is_ all this?"

"I'm not sure," he told her, moving to survey the metal platforms. "We didn't see this when we were looking around before, and this was the direction we came." Various medical tools and microscopes were strewn around, along with glass slides and rock samples—and bey parts. Popping one under a microscope lens, she bent her head to observe. The others filed in behind them, searching aimlessly.

"Hey, come look at this," she whispered, raising her head to meet his eyes briefly before scooting aside. Hesitantly, he took her place and squinted down at the slide. A bunch of what he assumed were human skin cells floated in front of him, but there was something extremely off about them—they were warped and had a strange, pale reddish-orange hue to them. "I think that's what happens when you get the exposure from the crystals the way they're doing it… That slide says the sample is from a… 'deceased specimen'." Iris shuddered, hugging herself tightly. He wanted so badly to comfort her, but knew this wasn't the time or place for it. Plus, that wouldn't look too great in front of the others, so he resisted.

"So people really _have _died because of what they're doing…" Madoka whispered. "That's horrible! What kind of evil do you have to be to kill so senselessly?"

"Pure darkness or you're beyond insane," Masamune mumbled back. "Hey, what's this?" Huffing, he pulled a large metal crate that was about three foot wide by four foot long by two foot tall out from under a shelving unit. Looking it over, he appeared to be trying to find a way to open it. "Madoka, it takes that same keycard, I think. There's a slot here." He pointed to the lid and she crouched to push the plastic into the bin. After a moment, there was a soft beeping noise before the click of a mechanical lock.

"So, let's—_oh my god!_" The mechanic's loud reaction had the others squishing around to get a closer look. What they saw was indeed rather shocking. They'd found their beys—along with about a hundred more. Metal of many colors and styles glinted up at them, and Kyoya had the strangest feeling of sadness wash over him, as if the beys were calling out for their bladers. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Iris reach up and rub her face quickly to avoid anyone seeing the tears that had apparently started to pool. So she felt it, too…

"It's awful," she whispered. Everyone turned their gazes to her, faces solemn. She kept her eyes down and crossed her arms tightly in an attempt to hide her balled fists. "Think of all the people that have died—the bladers these beys belonged to. We can't allow this to continue, or many more will be killed by this Cleansing nonsense…"

Masamune scooped Lynx and Striker off the top of the pile before he stepped past Gingka to rub her arm lightly. The brunette's jaw stiffened in sadness but she forced a tiny smile for him as he offered her Beyblade back to her. Something about the scene angered Kyoya, though he couldn't place what it was exactly that did. Until Iris hugged the black-haired male that was his rival, at least. Fire raged inside him and he gritted his teeth, glaring as hard as he could at the back of Masamune's head. It didn't go unnoticed, and the others stared at him with strange expressions.

"What?" he snapped. "Let's just get our beys and get out. We've got work to do." Snatching Leone, he turned and stormed from the room to the hallways, seething in fury—not fury at Masamune or Iris, really, but at himself. He shouldn't feel this way about a girl he barely knew. It was unbecoming and weak for him to show any kind of emotion that way—and towards a girl, for God's sake! Jesus, he wasn't Gingka, who was obviously head-over-heels in love with Madoka. He was Kyoya Tategami, one of the most powerful bladers in the world. He was brave, fierce, and ruthless, not some lovesick schoolboy who intended to trail at the heels of a goddess for the rest of his life. _Wait, goddess?_ The scowl on his face only worsened as he realized the thought had slipped into his head.

"You okay?" What snapped him from his trance was none other than the violet-eyed girl herself, who looked up at him in concern as she brushed her fingers over the back of his hand. The contact sent electric shocks through his body, and for a moment he wondered if she'd felt it. If she had, she'd done a very good job of hiding it.

"I'm fine," he growled. Faint surprise crossed her features—he hadn't used that kind of tone with her since he'd forgiven her for intruding upon his and Hikaru's battle with Masamune and Tsubasa.

"If you say so."

"You guys! You might want to come look at this!" Kenta exclaimed, pointing stiffly down a side hall a few yards from the room they'd come out of. "There's something going on… No, look!" The younger group member's voice dropped to a low hiss. "They've found Ray!"

A sound escaped Iris' throat and as Kyoya startledly glanced down at her, she ducked her head and stared at the ground. The fact that she was still hurting for that bastard made him so infuriated he thought he might spontaneously combust. Ray didn't deserve her pain and longing! She was just too kind to let go of him entirely, even after such a long time.

Suddenly, there was a scream of pure agony from the central ring. "Ray!" Crying his name, the girl took off running, tears streaming down her face. Kyoya had known she would do so before it was happening and had to settle for following directly behind her, unable to bring himself to yell and knock sense into that thick skull of hers.

He hadn't been this far in the facility from the direction he and Benkei and Kenta had come, and he stopped behind his friend as she did the same (because there was no denying that was really how he thought of her, and maybe more…). The round room itself was easily forty feet wide; the walls were entirely metal, with an overlapping layer about ten feet from the floor, which was black tile. The area itself was essentially open, but there was a large column in the center, covered in ouch pads and beeping screens. A faint humming came from the pillar, leading him to believe that there could have possibly been something inside it. His suspicions were further confirmed when he noted the six foot gap above it with a grate of some sort in the ceiling.

The whole area stank of blood—the irony, rusty, salty stench that was the only thing to make his gut boil. Where there was blood, there were _never_ good things to follow. Only upon another momentary observation did he discover the source. The body rested in a large heap near the base of the pillar, the scarlet liquid slowly oozing into a pool around it. The torn clothes on the figure revealed a gruesome wound that ran from the base of the victim's neck to the top of his right hip. Three deep slash marks glistened wetly back at the lion blader as he stared. He didn't have to look at the person's face. It was definitely Ray. There was no mistaking it. And he was dead.

In front of him, Iris began to tremble violently. "No…" she whispered, her fists balling. "He didn't deserve that… He may not have been the best person in the world, but he didn't deserve to die, not like this…" She was crying silently, barely able to process the situation. Her head snapped up and she snarled, "I will find whoever did this. Show yourself, you sorry son of a bitch! _Now!_"

Dark chuckling came from the hallway directly across from them, and Kyoya's eyes flew there. With a soft _clatter_, a knife hit the floor and skidded into the light, the sharp edge coated in the remnants of its last deed. The laughter steadily grew louder until the echo was almost deafening. He reached out, half expecting her to launch herself at the man across the room, but was shocked even further to find her absolutely frozen. Stepping forward, he stilled himself as he caught sight of her face. It was pale, sweat covering her forehead as her wide eyes became transfixed on the man in the shadows. Tears still streamed down her cheeks, but her expression had gone from one of anger to one of pure fear and horror.

"Come now, Dear… You wouldn't hurt _me_, would you? You don't mean that," the man purred, stepping forward. The first impression Kyoya got of him was that of what most people would consider a very handsome male in his late thirties with wavy blonde hair that appeared to be somewhat sun-bleached. The most striking feature about the man, though, were his deep violet eyes, several shades darker than Iris's. They might have been quite a beautiful shade of purple had it not been for the deep level of hatred in bitterness lodged in them. Somehow, he knew who the man was without her having to say it.

"You! You're supposed to be _dead!_" Kyoya snarled, putting himself between the man and his daughter. Faint surprise registered in the man's eyes; he then turned them to watch over the shoulder of his accuser. "Don't you ignore me!"

"Young man, it is quite impossible to ignore you if you are practically snarling in my face. I am fully aware that I should no longer exist in the world of the living." A frown graced the man's face as he ran is hand back through his blonde hair. It seemed his momentary fit of evil laughter was over and he appeared genuinely confused. "But here I am, so obviously I do. It shouldn't be a hard concept for anyone to understand."

"Why, you—"

"I'm afraid I must ask you to step away from my daughter so that I may be reunited with her. It has been many years since the last time I laid eyes on her or her brother—where is Lucas? Is he not here?"

"What's it to you? If you were alive, you should have gone back to see them! You don't deserve them—either of them." Ice blue eyes were cold as they glared across the body that lie between them.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, the older male shook his head. "That was not possible; otherwise we wouldn't be debating this now. If I _had_ returned, I really would be dead in this moment."

"It was you, then." The next voice that spoke was so full of spite that it actually made Kyoya's head turn to acknowledge it. Lucas stood in the entrance of the hall to his left, his face so dark and hateful that it was quite terrifying. Behind him stood Ryo Hagane and Hikaru Hasama, both of whom appeared extremely grim. It occurred to him that Iris probably had a tracker on or in her for the WBBA to find her if she ever needed help.

"Ryan Malare, you are under arrest for treason and, well, trying to kill of most of the planet," Ryo reported, stepping forward toward the man.

"I hope you understand that I have no intentions of, how do you say, _coming quietly._ In fact, you won't be leaving here. None of you will." The smile that crossed Ryan Malare's face was demonic. "I am going to eliminate all of you, but if you were to allow me to have Iris, I might be a bit more lenient and kill you quickly."

Soft whimpering came from behind Kyoya, and fresh waves of fury and adrenaline rushing through him. His blood boiled and his hands clenched.

"Not gonna happen." The group spoke as one, forming a line in front of her (except for Madoka, who stood with the terrified girl and tried to soothe her.).

"We're not just going to hand over our friend to the likes of someone like you!" Masamune spat. All of them looked just as angry and determined as Kyoya as they glared daggers at Iris' father.

"That's right! She's travelled with us and protected us!" Gingka said.

"We ate together, and we slept in a group and looked at the stars," Yuu put in.

"We trust her with our lives because we know she has trusted us with hers by joining this mission," Tsubasa added.

"_She's part of our family, and family doesn't give up on one another! That's why you'll _never_ be her family!_" they all snarled at once, raising their beys to the launchers. A brushing of skin against his launching elbow earned a glance out of the corner of his eye. She stood beside him, still quite pale, but the fear in her eyes had been replaced by a grim determination. Iris looked at him and forced a smile before returning to her serious demeanor.

"As touching as that is, it won't help you here! If you call yourselves a family, then you will die as one as well!" The older man raised his own launcher, aiming it at them. "I cannot allow you to ruin my plans for the perfect world I will create!"

Beys flew toward each other at lightning speed, ten to one, but it didn't seem to faze their opponent. "He fights with _Divine Apollo 844D_. Its attack and stamina are quite high even though it's a defense type…" The brunette next to him gritted her teeth. "He's incredibly strong and always has been. We might have a chance though…"

"We're going to crush him. Don't let your and doubt interfere with the battle before you now. Let go of all that and fight with everything you've got—for the sake of moving on to tomorrow!" he declared. She stared at him, eyes wide. It may have seemed mean, but it was his only way of getting her to understand that she had to give it her all and stop doubting the power that existed in them as a group. Every emotion flashing through her eyes was a new reason to unleash wrath on the man she had once called her father, but she nodded and straightened.

"That's all quite well, but you've yet to defeat me!" Apollo's golden fusion wheel began to glow as it stilled and spun in place.

"Not happening! Go, Sagitario!" Kenta's bey flew toward it, fire enveloping its clawed spin track.

"Not good enough, my boy!" With a wave of the hand and a blinding light, Sagitario was thrown back to its blader's feet, who stared at it in disbelief. Try as they may to double team their opponent, Eagle, Libra, Bull, and Striker all met the same fate, progressively worse each time, to the point that Striker was in fact smashed into several pieces.

"Dammit! He's too strong!" Masamune cried, scooping up the fragments of his bey and cradling them gingerly in his palms.

"The high powered energy blasts that Apollo emits are equivalent to the heat on the sun… Nothing survives heat like that. Not even the inside of a volcano gets that hot…" Iris gritted her teeth. "I don't know how we can beat that kind of power. I'm not going to give up—I just don't have a strategy. Head-on attacks fail. Sneak attacks won't work because there's nothing here to hide behind or to pull the attention from out beys…"

She stared frustratedly as her bey was knocked back by a powerful energy wave, but it continued to spin, almost without a wobble. Almost. Kyoya knew she was right—about there not being a strategy, at least. None of their bey had any special moves to help with, either—wind wouldn't work because it would just feed the fire; smaller stars couldn't destroy a larger one; and even the heat of a volcano was nothing compared to the sun. Suddenly, she gasped.

"I've got it! Go, Lynx! Special Move: _Great Cat's Burning Judgment!_" A red beam filled the room and shot straight past Apollo, missing it entirely.

"My dear, I think your skills could use some honing! With aim like that—"

"Maybe I wasn't aiming at the goddamn bey, _Daddy._" As if to clarify, there was an earth shaking explosion from the center of the room. "You guys!"

"We got it!" They followed suit, attacking the central pillar with everything they had and completely avoiding the golden bey.

"You idiots! Stop this! I won't allow it! I mustn't!" Suddenly, light poured from the roof through the grate in the ceiling, landing on Apollo. "I won't be made a fool of by a bunch of _children!_"

In the next moment, time stood still around Kyoya. The heavenly glow coming from the center of the room was unbearably beautiful, even if it was just as dangerous. Gingka had yelled an attack, and it hung in the air thickly like the lingering stench of blood. Next to him, Iris had those gorgeous violet eyes locked on his face. They were wide and scared again—but this time the fear wasn't for herself. He couldn't help but to notice how her skin glowed as the light graced it, how soft it looked. He found himself wanting to touch her, to run the backs of his fingers over her cheek just once.

He never got the chance. A pressure on his stomach brought his senses back into overdrive just as he realized what was happening. He flew sideways into the metal wall and watched in horror when the beam of energy connected full force with her body. No one knew what to do—they could only stand and stare. The brightness became blinding and he shielded his eyes, her name involuntarily leaving his lips in a pained attempt for her to hear him.

* * *

**OMG ****you guys. I felt like I just had to write this and get it up for y'all—I don't know what I'd do without you. I'm so sorry I let one person's flames get to me, even for a moment. It's **_**so**_** unlike me, I promise. It's probably the result of some insecurities I have about myself that are always there, and they finally reached the surface and it only took a little thing for me to move into a total meltdown. Not that I'm expecting the world from any of you, but I'd like to get these few things off my chest.**

**1. People might not tease me about it, but I'm a bit overweight.**

**2. The people I call my friends mean more to me than my own life, and in the past two years, I've had two very close friends completely betray me. It made me feel like they didn't value me as a person, and that maybe I wasn't good enough for them.**

**3. I'm advanced in a lot of subjects, and I feel like that's all people see a lot of the time, instead of trying to get to know me at all.**

**4. Oh, did I mention I'm 16 and have **_**never**_** had a freaking boyfriend? I'm not trying to sound like a whiny teenager, it's just that the few guys that I've liked were the few that tried and somewhat succeeded to understand me, and then they always wanted to 'just be friends.' Don't try to tell me I'm overreacting—I hate it that my friends come to me for relationship advice that works more often than not and then they proceed to ask me if I want to go with them and their boy/girlfriend to do things. Yeah, it hurts. Especially slow dances at Homecoming and such when no one asks me…**

**5. Sometimes I feel cut off from the rest of the world because I have a hard time trusting people with my real feelings, because I've been hurt one too many times for it. I'm always lonely, whether it shows or not. I play tough, but dang it, I just want to be loved. T-T**

**6. My writing is pretty much the most important thing in my life. When someone puts a bullet through that, it leaves a mark. A big mark.**

**Sorry about that you guys. Didn't mean to sound so whiny. One last thing before my actual note, though.**

**You all owe Darkness Leviathan BIG TIME. She gave me this pep talk that may not have been very long, but it was good enough to make me smile—something I haven't done in a couple of days. She talked some sense into me… So in your reviews, it would mean the world to me if you would thank her. It doesn't have to be elaborate, just a thank you will do fine. **

**Moving on:**

**Another third-person chapter down! This time it was entirely Kyoya's POV, though. I really like how this one turned out, actually; I quite enjoyed writing for Kyoya, he's very interesting to be able to unravel to the readers—and really to myself as well—as we go. I like him because while he's so proud and 'cool' he has a backstory that is the easiest explanation for what made him that way, and that history can be readily manipulated for a romance. Haha, now I feel slightly devious! No problem, no problem.**

**Review responses! (There's actually one this time, yay!)**

**1. roserain1998: I'm glad you like it, dear, and thanks so much for the support!**

**2. Darkness Leviathan: it means so much that you think so highly of me, and I can never thank you enough for that. I don't know what else to say. **

**Also a big thanks to all the people that have followed and/or favorite so far: Darkness Leviathan, MyCorruptKindness, The-Gray-Ninja, roserain1998, and CaBu12. Thanks you guys, it means the world to me that people are actually **_**reading**_** the utter nonsense that spills out of my head through my fingers and liking it enough to keep up with the story.**

**The original Claws Of His Heart reached 2000 views yesterday! Drumroll please! Internet cookies for all! That blew me away. 2000 views in seven months… it's incredible! **

**You know, I actually didn't intend to end the chapter where I did, it just sort of happened that way. So, yeah. Don't you worry your pretty little heads because I'm not about to kill her off. I just thought that saving Kyoya's hardheaded ass was a slightly better alternative than her almost dying of pneumonia like she did in the original. So *sticks tongue out* I'm currently working on the next chapter and hope to have it up soon. This chapter is the approximate halfway point of the story! Woohoo!**

**One last thing. If any of you are wondering where we go from here, the answer is: very big places with much more fluffy romance. Hahahahaha. **

**~Thorn**


	9. Eight: An Ink-Bleeding Heart

**Eight: An Ink-Bleeding Heart **

_June 7, 2013_

_My mission is over and so is my time as an agent at the WBBA. Actually, I just got out of the hospital and they wouldn't let me write while I was in there. I don't see what the big deal was—I only ended up with one tiny scar on my shoulder from the impact of Apollo's Special Move._

_That's right; I haven't had the chance to tell you about any of what happened after the night we were trapped in that cave because of the blizzard. It's quite a story… I guess the first thing you should know is that we followed the cave back and behind a metal door was the base of operations for the people we were investigating the mountain for. We didn't make it very far in there, though, as sad as that is. I don't remember anything up to the point where I woke up with a splitting headache and had pills shoved down my throat by my ex-boyfriend. That wasn't too pleasant, but after that was even less so. He told me all about how they wanted to clear all weak humans off the face of the earth in what they called The Cleansing that was essentially mass homicide. The others and I managed to escape—did I mention they tied us up and gagged us? That wasn't fun to try and get out of, mind you, and I would rather not go into it. In the end though, we did, and tied Ray up in our place. We wandered around and found the room they'd hidden our beys in… _

_The weird thing was when I saw more than our beys in that metal box, I felt so distraught I wanted to cry. I hugged Masamune for trying to help and all of a sudden Kyoya gets all pissy. I can't help but wonder if maybe he was a little jealous, but I'd sooner push that thought away. There isn't any way in hell he feels anything for me… Is there?_

_Anyway, a few other things happen before there's this scream of pure agony coming from the central area of the base. … He killed Ray Mama. The boy may not have made the best choices, but he didn't deserve to die that way. Daddy—no, I refuse to even think of him as that anymore. Ryan killed him with the knife that is currently in police custody, just like he will be for the rest of his life for murder. We fought him—all of us did. They called me their family. The wave of happiness I felt for them saying that and so whole-heartedly defending me almost hurt. It's been so long since anyone cared about me that way… Ryan was so strong, though. He knocked out most of us before we could even fight for real. Gingka, Kyoya and I were the only ones left… We attacked the pillar that I'm pretty sure is how they channeled the moonlight for their 'project' and he went insane…_

_He almost killed Kyoya too. I don't know how I survived that, really, being hit with Apollo's Special move like that. I pushed him out of the way right before the attack made contact and I got the full force of the energy. It was like being consumed by the sun and drowned in the ocean at the same time. The heat was unbearable, but there was pressure all over my body and I couldn't breathe at all. I was sure I was going to suffocate, and then I was cut off from the outside world. That was when I was pretty sure I would die. I couldn't be sorry about it, though—I'd saved Kyoya from it. It was a strange feeling. I couldn't bear to see him hurting, ever, so my body reacted without me telling it to. The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was my name._

_I woke up in a hospital in Tokyo with my room full of people—the guys, but then Ryo, Hikaru, Lucas, And a bunch of other agents as well. I would have laughed at the expressions on their faces, but the doctors kept me doped up so much that thoughts weren't really a possibility. I laugh at it now… Actually, my doctors couldn't figure out how I was okay. The damage I took was all minor except that to my lungs for the smoke I inhaled. Even that wasn't so bad, but they kept me for a month to make sure. It was positively degrading, but there were worse places to be, like, for example, _dead._ They assume the small scar that I now have from a healed wound came from a piece of shrapnel that cut me—but the scar is only about an inch long and not too noticeable, so I can't complain. _

_The others visited me every single day—it was crazy what kind of strange conversations we had when sitting in a hospital room. Personally, I feel more connected to them than I have to anyone in a very long time. Madoka has become just as much my best friend as Allie is back home. Masamune might have a big mouth and attitude, but he's hilarious and sweet when he wants to be—sometimes you just need that so badly when you're stuck in one room for a month. Gingka told stories about things he and Hyoma had done when they were younger, to which my friend was often embarrassed due to some of the sheer stupidity of it, though I assured him that most kids were that way and not to worry. Yuu became like a little brother to me, and being able to reconnect with Tsubasa made me miss something didn't know I'd lost. _

_It also gave me quite a large amount of time to study Kyoya. I find him incredibly interesting. He barely talked the whole month, but strangely I didn't mind so much. He pretty much lived in the chair to the right of my bed by the window. I asked him once why he'd chosen to sit there and the reply I'd gotten was that it was the only comfortable chair in the room and not to flatter myself. That made me giggle and he scowled at me, but it was really halfhearted because it didn't reach his eyes. He wasn't really upset with me. He never once thanked me for what I did, which I'm quite thankful for—it might have led to questions that I myself don't yet have the answers to, or ones that I'm not ready to answer. _

_During that time, though, I got the impression that Benkei wasn't too pleased with the equilibrium I'd developed with his friend—he spent a lot of time subtly throwing me dirty looks whenever I spoke to the boy in the chair beside me, or when I laughed at something he said or if I smiled at him. The big guy obviously didn't like the fact that anyone else was as close to Kyoya as he was—and that led me to an uncertain suspicion that he might be gay, for the level he'd attached himself to Kyoya. _

_They were all devastated when I told them I was leaving to come back to the US. I'm actually on the plane as we speak. They accumulated all of their cell numbers—I was surprised to find Kyoya's on the list as well. Everything I think about this moment seems to come back to him, I just realized. I've got to figure out how I really feel about all of this or I'm most certainly going to go insane… I guess we'll see how all this works out._

* * *

_November 7, 2013_

_It's been five months to the day since I left Japan to come back to Georgia. That's a strange feeling, you know? Madoka and I text all the time about anything we can think of. The others text occasionally as well, just to say hey and stuff like that. I'm actually pleasantly surprised—Kyoya texts the most right next to Madoka, though it's not even close to competing. _

_He might text once a week at most, just checking up on me. Honestly, it's really sweet of him, but it also kind of confuses me. I suppose it's easier to act a bit different through texts, though, so I probably shouldn't dwell on it so much. But I do, and I can't help it. He's actually nice when you get him talking, since I've done that a few times. He's just awfully careful what he does with his emotions. I really think he might be sort of scared of showing his emotions to anyone for fear they might think badly of him or call him weak. _

_Anyway, though, Allie was ecstatic when she found out I wouldn't be traveling anymore. According to her, she's got her 'live with me sister' back. That never ceases to make me laugh. My relationship with Lucas is better than it's been since I can remember, and the three of us do a lot together. At the moment, he's bringing in the most money with that skate shop he opened downtown. People love the place and he's up to his ears in orders and work. I'm happy he found something that makes him feel needed and useful. I finally found the same thing for myself—my music. This is the best I've felt in years, and that seems kind of sad but it's true. _

_Other than that, there's not much to tell at the moment. Nothing important has happened really, other than that Halloween was a week ago. It was fun to dress up and go to Travis' party with Allie; I felt like a little kid again. It's the first time I've really enjoyed myself since I can't remember when._

_Georgia is as beautiful as always, with its rolling hills and orchards—who can forget the great peaches? Haha… I missed wandering through the woods and going fishing and driving the jeep and riding my bike—which Allie kept amazingly clean and shiny. It's home to me for sure; it's where I've always been meant to be. _

* * *

_February 13, 2014_

_Eight months is a very long time, longer than I ever thought it could be. I find myself missing my family so much—the family overseas. They became such a big part of my life in such a short time, and now I can't stand to not be around them. I'll never say to them just how badly I miss them though—only that I do. _

_I've done a lot of thinking lately about my feelings for Kyoya—I've decided that they definitely exist, but I'm not sure how to classify them. If I ever see all of them again in person, I'm just going to do whatever my heart tells me to. Cheesy, I know, but that doesn't matter. If I really feel that way, it will become obvious. I've told Madoka as much, and she's really excited. She's always keeping tabs on him for me, even though I told her not to, and gives me updates regularly like it's her life's work, which I find quite amusing. _

_I've also let Allie in on the fun—when I Skype with the others, she's always there with me, and I think she and Madoka have taken a liking to each other, exactly as I knew they would. It makes me grin to hear the two of them bickering sometimes, and that's exactly what I've always wanted—to have my friends always get along._

_On another note: tomorrow is Valentine's Day. This makes me extremely sad to think about, because even though I have a family, I'm still alone in the respect of a significant other. Madoka told me briefly that Gingka still had yet to ask her out so she'd be spending the holiday by herself as well, and not to worry too much about it, that it wasn't worth it because it was a stupid holiday anyway. _

_I quite beg to differ, but I guess without anyone to share it with, it might actually _not_ be worth it._

* * *

June 13, 2014

"He did what now?" I gawked at the computer screen, practically smooshing my face against it in shock. The light-brown haired girl on the other end of the conversation grinned widely at me, her blue eyes shining as she adjusted the goggles on top of her head.

"You heard me," she teased, waving her hand.

"B-but… He doesn't…" I tried to think of a viable argument against her and came up short, my face growing extremely hot. I rubbed my cheeks in an attempt to hide it.

"Wait, wait. So tell me again?" Allie prodded as she pulled her black hair back into a ponytail.

"Well, Masamune and Tsubasa were talking about Iris—something extremely random, something she said once I think. He was standing in the corner and Benkei was bugging him, like always. Honestly, I'm pretty sure the big guy doesn't like her too much. I think he was trying to be a distraction from the conversation. Gingka jumped in the middle of Tsubasa and Masamune and was like 'but just because she talked to you all the time doesn't mean she likes you, Masamune' and then Masamune was like 'I know that, but it's something, isn't it? She might give me a chance!' And then _Yuu_…" She paused to giggle, covering her mouth. "I gotta hand it to the little guy, he's smart. He told them 'but she doesn't like overly energetic people—they annoy her sometimes. She likes really tough people. Big strong people. She told me that once—it's 'cause she wants them to be able to stand up to her and actually fight back, not attempt to, and because 'people that aren't strong enough couldn't live with her.' That was what she said. So, I think somebody more like Yo-yo!' They all totally went off after that. Masamune kept arguing that Kyoya's a jerk and he couldn't get a girlfriend if he tried 'cause no one could stand him.

"But that wasn't the part that really killed it! It was the reaction that Kyoya had that did it. He just stared down at the floor and shoved his hands in his pockets and blushed like crazy! I don't even think Benkei noticed, or else he would have flipped out. It was so freakishly adorable and no one but me saw. For the record, that might not be a bad thing for his self-esteem that no one did, but still! Oh my god, I just wanted to die from how cute it was. I really think he likes you, Iris. I really do. I've never seen him act like that before.

"Besides, he's been kinda down for a while now. Normally he's all into the 'let's kick Gingka's butt' and 'I'm definitely going to win, so I've gotta train myself to death' but here lately… He's been talking less and he's not quite so enthusiastic about _anything_. Honestly, it worries me. The only time he's really himself is when I know you're texting him and I spy. Then he talks to the others and bickers with them like he normally does. I think he's lonely and he misses you. I'm not sure he knows it himself, but he does. He's never had to deal with that before, so he doesn't know what to do with it. And you cared about him more than anyone has in a long time, I'm sure."

Even though my blush didn't disappear, I considered her words. It would seem that she was telling the truth, and that was a reasonable deduction from what she saw. He was happy when he was texting me? It was probably just a coincidence, but something in the back of my mind willed me to hold on to the hope that it was really the case. In the middle of my thoughts, Masamune, Yuu, Gingka and Kenta tumbled down the stairs behind Madoka.

"Iris! You didn't tell us you were on Skype, Madoka!" Masamune grumbled, shoving his face into the webcam. "Hi!"

I giggled, waving at him. "Hi you guys. Get back from the camera so I can see everyone else, too, Masamune." Looking indignant, he did, and the others said their greetings as well. Behind me on the smaller screen that showed my room, I caught Allie grin and wiggle her fingers in a silly hello. Yuu and Kenta laughed and waved back the same way. They were quite taken with her from the beginning, another plus.

We all chatted about random things for a while before I sat back and let Allie take control of the conversation. It was strange to see everyone getting along so well, laughing and smiling as they talked. I watched quietly, crossing my arms over my chest as I studied random things in the background—Madoka's workshop. Bey parts were laid on the table, along with other equipment she used to fix the Beyblades she got. Random pictures covered the walls, which were painted a pale cream, making the room rather boring. It was still earlier in the morning there, where here it was late at night. My mind drifted and I hardly heard them speaking anymore when I saw movement on the stairs again. If any of them heard what I saw, they didn't acknowledge it. A form sat slowly, turning to face the camera but not coming any closer. He didn't have to, though. When he saw I was on camera, a huge smile lit up his face. I stared back at him, watching as the smug expression I had always seen changed into an actual look of happiness. I couldn't help it, I grinned involuntarily before I felt Allie nudge my side I blinked, unwillingly yanking my gaze from those blue eyes that absorbed me.

"What?"

She raised one eyebrow at me, glanced back at the screen, then back at me, raising both even further. I couldn't do anything but giggle back, shaking my head and covering my mouth. "Damn, girl." The way she pronounced it more like 'day-um.'

"Wha-at?" I couldn't help myself—I just had to be cute like that.

"You one lucky bitch." Winking, she added, "Or you're gonna be."

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement to the rear of the screen, and ducked my head to blush madly.

"_Allie, I'm gonna kill you!_"

* * *

**Two chapters in one day, this is crazyyyyyyy! Yay me. o**

**There would have been more journal entries than that, just so you guys know. I actually wrote more than that and I chose which ones I liked the best to put in. This chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but there's not really any action, and a lot of dialogue again… I promise, the rest of the chapters most definitely won't have quite so much. Believe me, though, this chapter is quite important. Don't skip it, please! For all of you that are even still reading my nonsense, once again, I thank you. Your support is what's keeping me going for sure, and this whole incident with the Flamer Girl proved it. COOKIES FOR ALL. **

**~Thorn**


	10. Nine: ICA

**Nine: ICA**

**New Message From: Kyoya Tategami**

_What's up?_

_Just life, you know. Haha. I'm gonna be really busy in the morning… Work to do, sigh._

_The skate shop again?_

_Nah… Something else this time._

_Meaning…?_

_Don't worry about it, it's just going to be a long day. Maybe I'll feel like explaining when I'm not so freaking tired…_

_Hard day, then?_

_You could say that. But as of now, everyday is. _

_That's another one of those things you MIGHT tell me when you're not so freaking tired, right?_

… _Something like that…_

_I really wish you wouldn't be so hesitant to tell me these things. _

_I really wish I wouldn't as well. _

_So why not, then?_

_Because I don't want to disappoint anyone else if things don't work out for me. I can't stand to let anyone else down if I can help it. _

_You wouldn't let me down. I'm not even sure that's possible._

_Yeah? … Thanks… That means a lot. You__'re a lot more relaxed when you're texting me, you know that?_

_So?_

_It's just… Nice. Like, you're more open or something._

_It's probably just the fact that I don't have to edit every other word that comes out of my mouth. You know, with Masamune's big mouth and all._

_Lol yeah I know. Trust me… He can be such a moron, but I really think he means well. He's a good guy, really._

… _So you like him?_

_Well, sure. He's a great friend and all. And he treats me like a person, not…Well, you know._

_That's not what I meant and you know it._

_No, I don't like him that way. He's just… Too much. I'd sooner bang him over the head with a frying pan than actually bang him._

_o.O Thanks for that visual. Really appreciate it._

_Any time!_

… _So you don't like him then?_

_I thought I made that pretty clear… Wait, why do you wanna know so bad anyway?_

_What about Hyoma?_

_No, I don't like Hyoma that way either. I mean, sure, I love him, but he's like my brother. No way would I ever date my brother._

_Oh. _

_Why? _

… _You should go to bed._

_Ah… I guess you're right… I expect an answer tomorrow though. And if I don't get one, I will chase you across the planet, pin your sorry ass to the ground, and beat the living shit out of you until I do._

_I'll hold you to that._

**New Message From: Madoka Amano **

_Okay bitch. Spill it. He's staring at the wall again like he always does after you two talk. _

_Is he? _

_Yes, he is. Except he kinda looks… Idk. Out of it?_

_Ah…_

_Forward me the convo._

… _Ok, hold on. [6 Pictures]_

… _Wow. _

_What?_

_You know what I think?_

… _Obviously not if I'm asking. _

_He's totally jealous._

_Kyoya? Jealous? What? No! Are you crazy?  
_

_Maybe a bit. But I honestly think that's what's going on here._

…_So what do I do with that?_

_Play it hard, girl. Play it hard. Talk about other guys you've liked or that you've talked to._

_Wouldn't I only want to do that if I liked him?_

_Don't you?_

_I…_

_Girl, you are totally into him. You're head over heels, crazy in love, twitterpated!_

_That's pushing it a little, don't you think?_

_No, I don't. I wish you could listen to yourself sometimes. It's so obvious._

… _Really…?_

_Absolutely. You're dying inside without him, dearie._

_Okay, THAT was extremely exaggerating._

_Maybe a bit, haha. But I really think you like him. Give him a chance, you'll see. I know he's a lot sweeter than he lets on. And I'm nearly positive that he likes you back just as much. He's never acted so weird…_

_Weird? Huh? What'd you mean?_

_Ever since you left, he's been a completely different person. He's more secluded from the rest of us. He hangs around but I haven't seen or heard of him battling Gingka or anyone at all! He's gotten quieter, too, like… You know how he can be. Sarcastic, jerk face, stubborn and stupid._

_Haha yeah… And?_

_Well, that's just it. That's progressively become less and the case. I tried to talk to him the other day, and he acknowledged me and barely mumbled a response. Nile and Damure flew last in from Africa last week to stay for a few months, and even they're starting to get worried. Nile mentioned to me that he's acting really strangely. I can't help but think he's been hurting. _

_Because of me?_

_I think you are the one thing he never knew he was missing._

* * *

My limbs burned softly at the strain of the routine as Carson spun me out to his left, pulling me back so that I was facing front and could sway my hips against him. Ordinarily, the work would have satisfied me, but the movement only left a bitter taste on my tongue, and I stilled. Carson apparently felt the same, because when I glanced over my shoulder with my nose crinkled, he wore a look of distaste similar to my own that marred his otherwise exceptionally attractive face. We parted, and he practically kicked the stereo that currently had my iPod plugged up to it.

"What is it, you two? You guys were doing great!" My—our—manager, Alan, stood from his chair and paced to us, clipboard at his side. In his late thirties, Alan was still hoping to make it big in the music industry. He'd come out of a well-known record company to start his own, and Carson and I were currently the only group he was working with, though he hoped there would eventually be more.

"Boss, we can't do this. It's so wrong," Carson exhaled, exasperated, as he ran a hand back through his russet hair.

"I agree." I crossed my arms over my chest, shivering slightly as the ends of my ponytail tickled my shoulder blades. "Carson's _engaged_ now, Alan. Maybe this stuff was okay before that happened, but everyone doesn't need to see him like this with someone other than Clara. It's not good for our image, and plus, it's just downright disrespectful to the both of them."

Alan's face screwed up before he sighed, looking defeated, and nodded as he scrawled some stuff down on his pad of paper.

I guess I should explain. Around eight months ago, I met Carson at a party with some friends. We hit it off immediately and that night we did karaoke, just for fun, and ended up with the entire crowd screaming out that we needed a record deal. Alan was apparently the friend of a friend of someone, and he signed us then and there. It was amazing, really, and neither of us could believe our sheer dumb luck. We'd been working our butts off since then to be the best that we could be, and the bond between us made us inseparable. I didn't see him as a possible boyfriend (or at least, I hadn't, even when he was available).

In January, he'd met Clara Brown. She was this petite, pretty little blonde with these huge chocolate brown eyes that could melt even a heart of ice with just one look into them. She had a heart big enough for three worlds of people, and her ability to love and forgive fascinated me. Right away, we'd become the best of friends. The details I knew were still sketchy, but that didn't matter—they were so happy together, like they had their own little bubble of shining romance. It was beautiful, and I couldn't have been more pleased for the two of them. Secretly, I was slightly jealous of that, but I couldn't be upset about it. In the past couple weeks, he'd proposed and everything about our music changed (mostly for the better, except that our dance routines were now bothering the both of us as being too sexy. Clara had pushed that it was alright and that we should do whatever made sense, but since then, Carson and I simply couldn't continue that way.)

"It's alright, I understand," Alan said. "We'll… just have to start creating some new routines when the two of you get back in a month."

I blinked, remembering that Carson had decided to take some time off (since we'd been so busy lately) to spend it with his family and fiancée. In all honesty, I didn't feel like doing the same. These days, I wasn't keen on sitting around with too much time on my hands. I'd have to figure out something, but I wasn't just going to sit on my ass on the couch for the next four weeks.

"See you, then, Iris. Take care, sweetheart." Carson wrapped me in a bear hug, squishing the air out of my lungs. "I'll text—maybe." And with one last wink, he dropped me and was out the door. I wheezed for a moment before laughing softly and shaking my head. No doubt he meant that if he could find time in between sessions of screwing his fiancée, he might attempt contact with the outside world. What could I say? Guys will be guys.

A ringing behind me caught my attention briefly as Alan's cell rang. I turned my focus back to my bag, shoving stuff in it and slipping my leather gloves on. The one thing I could always look forward to after a hard day of work… My bike ride home. The feel of the purring Harley engine never failed to calm my nerves and anxieties, leaving me at peace with anything in the outside world. It was the only reason I wore jeans to and from work in the middle of summer, so as to avoid my legs being rubbed raw.

"Iris?" My manager's voice drew me from my thoughts, and I hummed a response. "You've got visitors, and quite a few of them, apparently. Is it okay for Marilyn to send them back?"

Frowning, I stood and nodded. It wasn't uncommon for Lucas or Allison to stop by to say hey and ask me to do something fun after work, but a group? Maybe my cousins from upstate were in town or something and my brother had sent them here. That was possible. A few minutes passed and I shifted from foot to foot, gradually growing more and more doubtful that anyone was coming at all. Disappointed, I went for my bag before the creaking of the dance-room door behind me echoed in the room.

"Iris?" My body froze at the sound of the slightly high-pitched male voice that I would have known anywhere. I looked up just in time to catch the orange-haired boy as he flew at me for a suffocating hug, much like the one I'd received not too long before. "We missed you! So Madoka got us plane tickets and talked to Allison and we're staying with you for a few weeks!"

I hid my tears of happiness with laughter as I squeezed Yuu back. "Missed you too, little buddy." He shimmied down and skipped to the others, whom were all chucking or giggling at the boy as well. "Hi you gu—"

If I had thought Yuu or Carson's embraces hurt, Madoka and Masamune practically strangling me from both sides was torture. Torture that I could not have possibly been more okay with.

"Why didn't you just stay in Japan with the rest of us?" the black-haired male wailed softly, rubbing his face against my shoulder. There was no chance of me being angry with that when he was genuinely upset—plus, my better judgment was pushed aside by the fact that it was just too damn _adorable_. Not thinking too much about it, I pecked the top of his head.

"Couldn't. Had to get out and live my life. And I did, and it's great. Too bad you guys won't get to meet Carson—he just left not too long ago."

"What is this place, anyway?" Madoka inquired, looking around without letting go.

"Eh? Oh, this is—for now—just ICA's studio."

"ICA?" The question came from everyone, and many sets of eyebrows went up.

The grin on my face was so wide it almost hurt. "My band. Carson and I co-write all the lyrics and the music, and we've got other members as well. I didn't want to tell you guys until I was certain it was going to work out, but as of right now, I'm positive it will!" Blinking, I glanced down. "Could you two, um, let go please?" I squeaked with a giggle.

"Oops," Masamune mumbled, sticking his arms behind his back and staring at the floor in a pout. That did it—he was tackled extremely hard, quicker than he could really let go of me.

"_Ohmygodyou'rejustsofreakingadorableit'scrazyohmygo dahhhhhh!_" I sounded like a fangirl but honestly I didn't care. He was still my friend, whether I had feelings for him or not, and this was perfectly acceptable.

"Iris—you're—hurting—me—"

"Oops," I mumbled, mimicking his prior actions before flashing him a wide smile. By this time, most of the others were crying they were laughing so hard, and this big group was quite the sight.

"So… Who're these guys?" I turned to Alan, whose eyebrows were hidden under his bangs. After a quick explanation, he nodded. "Ah, I get it. Nice to meet all of you, and thanks for bringing this little star into my hands." He threw an arm around my shoulders and I rolled my eyes.

Some meaningless chattering followed, my smile never once fading. It was as though a large weight had been lifted from my chest so that I could breathe again. These guys were my family, and some of the best friends anyone could ask for. In an instant, they'd become my whole world and there wasn't anything I could do to go back—not that I had any reason to want to. I needed them to be _me_, and by some strange happening, they all felt the same way.

Eventually I got around to hugging just about everyone, with the exception of Benkei, who refused to touch me (though otherwise, he was surprisingly good-natured about the whole ordeal), and Kyoya, who I was slightly nervous to approach. I could feel his eyes on my face from where he stood barely off to the side, arms crossed and leaning back on his heels as he occasionally put in a comment.

Also, Nile and Damure eventually introduced themselves as well. Damure was a real tall and skinny, nervous kind of fellow, with dark hair and medium-toned skin. He seemed sweet though, because when I smiled at him, he blushed lightly and avoided my gaze. Nile on the other hand radiated confidence and power while still managing a friendly smile. He was incredibly tan and had orange markings under his dark green eyes, brown hair and extensions of a similar tone to the painted markings on his face. At the same time, he didn't speak very much at all, revealing that he might be a bit more timid than he let on. All in all, both of them were very nice guys that I couldn't wait to get to know a bit more—especially Nile, who I had a feeling I could become very good friends with.

"We all really did miss you a lot," Gingka put in, smiling softly in my direction.

"I missed you guys too, more than I can tell you."

"Some people more than other, I bet," I caught Madoka murmur to Kenta, who snickered. I shot them a look, sticking my tongue out.

"Who asked either of you anyway?"

"I dunno," Kenta hummed, a shit-eating grin stretching his face. "Why don't we see what the others think? Guys, who's your guess on who she missed the most?" As it turned out, the group was spilt about half and half on Masamune and Kyoya. I practically choked on my embarrassment, my face so hot I was sure I would burst into flames.

"Th-that's not fair!" I shouted. "You guys can't really expect me to pick favorites like that, can you?"

"She's right, we should calm down you guys." Yuu straightened, making his face extremely serious. "Besides, if one of them didn't miss her, what's the point in voting on it anyway?" As I stared at the boy, my face cooled, and it dawned on me what he meant. What he was trying to do. While it was obvious that Masamune had felt he was severely deprived of my company, Kyoya had not said or inferred anything of the sort. In fact, he hadn't spoken directly to me other than to say hi.

I took a moment to study the older male. Unlike what Madoka had previously told me, he looked perfectly fine. He was still several inches taller than me, still very lanky but strong looking, he still wore the same smirk-scowl I was so used to, and there was still an unearthly air of confidence around him. I couldn't help but to allow a flicker of doubt to appear in my mind before shoving it away. I believed and trusted Madoka. So if that was really the case… Then he was a thousand times better than he had been twenty-four hours ago.

"So Yo-yo, did you miss Iris?" All eyes locked on him and he turned his nose up, snorting quietly.

"Right. Sure." Sarcasm dripped from his words, and an involuntary spear of hurt ran through my chest. It must have shown on my face at least a little, because when he opened one eye, there was a quick flash of regret in the blue depths before he closed it again. "Well, there wasn't anyone worth training with…" he muttered with a soft grunt.

This guy really confused me. Maybe that was what made me want to try so hard with him—the challenge. Cocking my head, I thought for a moment before realizing that he was really too proud to admit he'd missed me as well, and it was his subtle way of letting his guard down. I noted the slight shift of his arms as he spoke. Well, only one thing was left for me to do.

My chin collided with the surprisingly giving muscle of his shoulder as I laughed happily. "Oh, you moron!" My voice was squeak from my giggling and I hugged his neck, just about ready to cry from joy once again. Kyoya stiffened but seemed very much caught off guard. "You know I missed you too, right? Who else is gonna make me laugh like this?" I managed around my giggles, letting go of him after a long moment to beam up at his very red cheeks.

"Kyoya, what's wrong with your face?" Nile's voice came from behind me, and prior to looking at him, I would have thought he was genuinely confused. The gleam in his eyes and the sly smile on his lips, though, said very much otherwise. I covered the distance between the two of us in a matter of seconds, laying my hands on his shoulders and making my face very solemn.

"Nile, that's called a blush. It happens when you get extremely embarrassed."

"Both of you can just shove it!" the answering hiss came, and I glanced just in time to see the door shut. When his Egyptian friend and I looked back at each other, though, it was all over and we were practically a messy blob of hysterics stuck together on the floor. Yeah, I liked this kid.

* * *

The ride home helped me to clear my head of the very immature teasing that had occurred in the studio, and as I parked my oh-so-sleek-and-shiny silver and black Harley in the garage, I sighed softly. It had been highly uncalled for, and I knew I was going to have to apologize to Kyoya for it. Not that I was bothered—it meant that I would have to get him alone to do so. The thought made my stomach turn loops around itself.

The sun was still just above the mountains, and we had maybe another two hours or so of daylight. The orange and purple sky was quite a sight, as always, and I stopped fro a moment to admire it before heading in the house through the door that connected the kitchen to the garage. "Allie!"

Black hair poked around the corner. "Iris! I assume the others are with you, then?"

"They're a couple of minutes behind." There was no way I would keep it slow on my beautiful bike—it wouldn't be fair to the poor thing. "We've spent a couple hours talking at the studio… I think I'm going to go shower and think for a while." Somehow, just like always, her face relaxed into an understanding smile. She just_ knew_. It baffled me, but I accepted it. The truth was that I really needed some time to thing about what the hell I was going to say to an already irritated lion. The thought wasn't pleasant, and I didn't want to just jump in headfirst for fear I'd be bitten. Even an hour's worth of hot water did no good for my racing mind, not when I could hear people coming inside downstairs, up the main staircase and down the hall to their respective rooms that Allie had no doubt organized for them. If anything, my anxiety rose. Maybe I should wait and let him cool off until in the morning. _No, if I do that it'll seem like I didn't care enough to do something…_

I gulped as I peered out the crack of the bathroom door. I felt like a young child sneaking around after stealing cookies from the jar in an attempt not to be caught. The hall was empty, thankfully, and I slipped out into it, my feet silent on the cool hardwood floors. I had to do this—for both of us. Taking a deep breath, I headed slowly up the already dark hall, pausing to listen inside rooms.

_Gingka and Masamune…_

_Tsubasa and Yuu…_

Kenta and Benkei…

I knew Madoka would be staying in my and Allie's room, so that left the last one on the left side… Suddenly, my mouth was dry. I swallowed before knocking quietly. There was no answer, even though I gave it some time. Hesitantly, I knocked a bit louder.

"_What?_" The response was sharp, and I flinched before cracking the door a bit.

"It's me…" I mumbled, guilt welling in my gut. I couldn't do this. But there was no turning back now… Another uncomfortable silence followed and I fidgeted, biting my lower lip. He was going to tell me to get out, I was sure of it, or maybe something a bit more colorful.

"Shut the door if you're coming in." The reply was softer, almost strained. The split second change startled me to the point that I didn't realize my feet had carried me into the room and to the bed. He sat towards the end, leaning on the wall by the window. His black jacket was discarded on the dresser, leaving the ripped black tank underneath. His knees were bent, arms draped around them as he stared out at the sky. His skin glowed faintly, and I had to bite my lip again, this time for a very different reason. "What is it you want?" Now that no one else could hear, the tone of his voice had changed once again, going from soft to almost nonexistent and somewhat pained, though his face was indifferent. It made my chest tighten. He shouldn't have to try so hard, dammit.

"To apologize about before… I'm sorry I laughed…. But I… I didn't know how else to… Express how happy it made me that you were even willing to admit that much in front of the others. That meant so much to me, so, thank you. And… I'm still sorry." He didn't reply, and it didn't look like he had any intentions of doing so. My head drooped. I didn't know what else to do, other than to turn and head for the door. "I'll leave you alone now," I murmured. "Sorry for—"

A sharp tug on the back of my shirt stopped me cold; as the pressure on my stomach released, I turned to face him again. He'd returned to his original position, refusing to look at me at all. I understood, though, and paced back, standing in front of him at the end of the bed. "Yes?" I asked softly, searching his face when he actually looked up at me to register he'd heard. He didn't speak, he only stared back at me. I broke the eye contact first, dropping my gaze to his hands. The one on his knee trembled slightly, and I couldn't help but to reach out and touch my fingers to his. To my surprise, he didn't flinch away. His skin was warm as I lightly trailed my fingers over his knuckles when he fisted his hand slightly. "I really did miss you a lot."

"More than Masamune?" he teased weakly, but I could tell he was serious.

"Yeah, more than Masamune." I picked up his hand, cradling it in both of mine gently before brushing my lips over the tips of his fingers. The gesture seemed a little backwards in my mind, like our positions should have been reversed, but it fit just the same.

"Why?"

A faint smile ghosted across my face before I looked back up into his eyes seriously. "Because he's hyper and can't control himself. Because you're strong and confident and everything I ever wished I could be. Because he's him, and you're you. Because I see a little bit of me every time I look at you. Because I want to see you smile, and I want to be the one to make you. Because there's not a damn thing in this world that could ever make me care about you any less, even though I know it shouldn't be so easy to say that." Subconsciously, I'd tightened my hold on his hand, afraid if I let go, he would disappear.

His eyes widened but remained locked on mine, shifting as though he were searching for something. I couldn't stand it anymore, I dropped myself against him, burying my face in his neck and holding him so tightly I thought I might break bones. His scent surrounded me, seeping into my pores as it etched itself into my mind. Mountain air, pine, and hazelnut coffee—maybe a combination that shouldn't have worked, but it did. Some small part of my brain registered his arms against my back.

The haze that clouded my mind lifted at a painfully slow speed, and by the time I was able to loosen my arms, I could stand to lift my head. Focusing on my breathing, I tilted my face back enough to see his.

"Hey," he murmured hoarsely, clearing his throat after.

"Hey," I whispered back, reaching up to do what I'd wanted to in that cave and trace the crosses on his cheeks. His blue eyes fluttered closed for a second.

"You meant all that?"

"Every single word," I assured him. Inhaling slowly, he leaned down to brush the end of his nose over mine lightly. The action reminded me of the way cats greet one another, and I smiled in spite of myself. I was not on my own—he did the same, dropping his face maybe another inch.

"How in the hell was I lucky enough… To meet you?"

"Not luck. Fate."

Normally I knew he would have scoffed at the idea, since he much preferred to think he was in control of everything n his life. "Maybe… But in any case… Someone… Is being extremely kind to me," he breathed.

My lower lip trembled at his closeness. Slowly, he leaned forward, millimeter-by-millimeter. I was half tempted to close the distance between us myself, but something tugged at the back of my mind and told me that at least for the moment, he had to do this. Involuntarily, my eyes fluttered closed.

In the exact moment his lips brushed mine, the door slammed open and I fell backwards onto the floor, eyes wide and staring at the intruder as I leaned on my elbows.

"_What the hell do you think you were doing to my Kyoya?_" Benkei roared. I began to hyperventilate, scrambling to my feet as quickly as I could.

"We—we were just talking. I came to apologize for earlier! That was all! What's wrong with you, haven't you ever heard of knocking?!" My face went through about fifty different shades of red in the next five seconds.

"You—you—" The man much larger than me appeared so angry he was at a loss for words.

When I met Kyoya's eyes, still quite startled, I found a dazed and very confused gaze staring back at me, as though he hadn't grasped the situation just yet. My own anger at Benkei bubbled inside me, and in the next moment, something clicked in my head and I was doing exactly what I should have been no more than a minute ago—kissing Kyoya. When I straightened and headed for the door I was once again met with fury, which I expertly ignored. In truth, my thoughts were stuck on the brief time my lips were occupied. It had possibly been the best three seconds of my life, and I didn't give a damn what his over-bearing 'friend' had to say about it.

At the other end of the hall, Madoka and Allie stood outside the bedroom door, and when they heard the snarl of '_What the hell was that, Benkei?'_ from the other end of the hall, they both grinned at me, giving me a double thumbs-up.

"So did you kiss him?" the bey-mechanic inquired excitedly, pulling the door closed behind her.

"You bet your ass I did. And right in front of Benkei, too! That moron can just deal with it."

* * *

**Phew…. Long chapter. Thorn could not get this posted before she went to bed last night, so she apologizes for that. She has also been reading a book in which her favorite character talks in the third person, so she apologizes for this (sort of). She is working on the next chapter now, as well.**

**Thorn wants to know what you all thought of that short little fluffy scene? Anyone else excited? She wants you to know that just because they kissed doesn't mean they're together… yet. So hahahahahaha.**

**Review responses!  
Darkness Leviathan: Thorn loves your reviews; they always make her day regardless of what is in them! She just wants you to know how much she loves you for reading her fanfics…. **

**Other people please review too! **

**~Thorn **


	11. Ten: The Past That Separates

**Ten: The Past That Separates**

_One week later_

Squealed laughter filled the walls of my house, echoing from where we were in the kitchen. Allie was holding her gut, tears spilling down her face in hysterics as she failingly attempted to catch her breath. Even Travis, the reason we were both breathless, was leaning over to balance on his knees. The ball cap that had originally covered his pale pink hair was lying on the tile floor in front of him.

"Oh—my—god! You didn't say that to Emmett, did you?" I wheezed out, grasping my chest.

"Yeah! That was the best part, too! He totally went insane!" The sheepish smile on my friend's face as he finally managed to straighten brought another round of giggles from my throat. It was around eight-thirty in the morning, and I certainly hadn't intended on being up yet, but when Trav had shot me a text saying he was going to stop by for a while, I couldn't resist. The guy was one of the few people I could just be crazy around, because he was just as nuts, and I was ever grateful to him for that. "He's so totally jealous! He couldn't believe it… I can't, either."

"Speaking of which, where is that big bear, anyway?"

"He'll be by in a few minutes, probably. I told him I was coming over and I'm sure he wouldn't pass up this opportunity, besides the fact that all your friends from Japan are here that he's just _dying_ to meet." I guess the thing you should probably know about Emmett… He's gay. Extremely, mind-numbingly gay, to the point that he sometimes has me in a similar state as the one I was currently in. I loved him to death, though, and I could always count on him if I ever needed to talk about something where Allie just couldn't give me what I needed to know. "No one else is up yet, then?"

"Well, they weren't ten minutes ago, but they might be now, with all the noise we were making. That's okay, though, since Madoka insisted that she, Allie and I go on a shopping spree later today for 'girl bonding time.'"

"Oh, don't be telling Em that. He'll have a shit-hemorrhage knowing someone else got you to go to the mall and he wasn't invited." I shuddered at Trav's words as the images of big burly Emmett Lawrence in Victoria's Secret pulling out skimpy lingerie for me to try on flooded my mind. I didn't even want to think what he would do if he found out about—

"What's up with all the noise so early, huh?" Masamune rounded the corner to the kitchen, black hair a mess as he rubbed his eye. His white shirt was crumpled and his gray shorts hung slightly lower on his left hip, making it certain that he hadn't thought to look at himself before presenting his face to the lot of us.

"Yeah, no kidding… We were still trying to sleep." Gingka followed, yawning and in much the same state as his friend. I gestured to Travis, who waved and nodded at the two of them.

"We had an unexpected visitor. Are any of the others awake yet?"

"Yeah, just about everybody, since _some people_ were down here cackling like crazy chickens," Masamune grumbled, making me laugh and pat his shoulder apologetically before turning to the coffee pot to pour myself another cup. The rest of the group trickled down the stairs, some more awake than others, though all quite disheveled.

"Trav, you just _love_ your morning visits, don't you?" Lucas teased, stretching. "Can't just let the lot of us sleep."

"Not my fault you're a night-owl, Skater." The pink-haired male shoved my brother good-naturedly with a grin. "Sooooo…. Where's this boy, eh, Iris?" he whispered, cupping a hand over his mouth. I almost choked on the drink I'd taken as I spat it into the sink and coughed, getting worried looks from Madoka and Tsubasa, both of whom had yet to actually speak. Shaking my head vigorously, I stared at him with wide eyes before sending a pointed glare at Allie, who wiggled her fingers in a shy wave.

"Can't keep your mouth shut, can you?" She shrugged, hopping up to sit in the corner of the counter beside Tsubasa and beginning to play with a strand of his hair. I couldn't help the fade in my anger at the harmlessness of the scene. Since they'd arrived, I'd been able to note little things about the way the two of them acted around each other—and she hadn't been shy to admit that she might have a thing for my cousin. I didn't really mind, but at the same time, I felt very protective of both of them. Rolling my eyes, I returned my attention to Travis. "She's just got a loose tongue. She doesn't even know what she's talking about."

Raising his eyebrows, he replied, "That's not what you almost spitting coffee through your nose told me. I caught you off guard. If there wasn't a reason for it to do that, it wouldn't have startled you. So, who is it?"

"Who is who?" The deep, slightly rough and very slurred voice sent chills down my spine, and I sipped my coffee again before answering to level my own.

"Morning, Kyoya." I was pleased when the words rolled off my tongue easily and without wavering, and my gaze shifted down to the black liquid in my mug.

"The hell you say," he muttered, pushing by me lightly to the counter where several more sat in waiting for use. Silence followed, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up as I felt the presence of some unknown tension flooded the air thickly. I glanced up, following Kyoya's somewhat dark gaze as he stared at Travis.

"What're you doing here?" they said at the same time, same cold and hesitant tone. When neither responded, Kyoya took a step forward. Something flashed through the eyes of my pale-haired friend and he slid back slightly, swallowing and trembling before dropping his head as the boy directly in front of me growled softly.

"Nick, Richie and I moved here after we got in contact with the WBBA. Iris is our friend. We stopped that stuff a long time ago. That's why we came here—to start new lives for ourselves. I swear… we're not a threat to you. Not that we ever were anyway." Travis barely spoke above a whisper, hands curling. This was so _wrong_. My outgoing, loud and rowdy friend Travis didn't give up like this. He didn't submit to anyone. Shoving around Kyoya, I stood between them and threw my arms up. "What's going on here?"

"Travis was a Face-Hunter, just like Nick and Richie," Benkei answered, joining me. "It's a past that none of us are that proud of, and we'd much prefer to forget about it." Casting a nervous look that I'd never seen from him before at Kyoya, he added, "Some of us need that more than others."

Murmuring a goodbye, Trav slipped out of the kitchen. When I turned to confront the remaining 'ex-Face-Hunter'—whatever that was—he was already gone in a whoosh up the stairs. Frowning, I met Benkei's gaze, nodding slightly when he jerked his head to the yard. The guy may not have been the friendliest person to me, he may have been impulsive and easily upset, but I knew when it came down to it, he wouldn't hurt me, and I could trust him. That didn't mean I had to like him, but he knew things I didn't and wanted to, and the only way I would know if he was willing to tell me was to follow him.

We headed down the woodland path beside my house to the small lake I had shown all of them at the beginning of the week. Rocks clicked softly around my flip-flops as we slowed near the water. The sky was clouded over, the leaves of the trees turned up, and I suspected rain later in the day. The forest was quiet, with few birds chirping and small animals chittering, likely since they were holed up to wait out the weather. We didn't speak for the longest time, only stood and stared at the glass-like surface of the water. A light breeze blew, sending ripples that disturbed the peace. Water had always fascinated me with its ability to be troubled by so many little things and return to its crystal clear serenity.

"How much do you actually know about Kyoya?"

The question caught me off guard. I opened my mouth to answer, but found no words. Clamping my jaw shut, I paused to think, crossing my arms. What _did_ I know about the lion blader? His name was Kyoya Tategami, brother to Kakeru Tategami, the head agent of the WBBA. His dad had abandoned them and around the time Kakeru turned seven, their mom had disappeared. The two of them didn't get along, what with their highly contrasting personalities, and they didn't speak much, not since the younger brother had gone off on his own to become a strong blader. Between then and now, I knew next to nothing about anything that had happened to him—it hadn't been my department, and I hadn't been interested enough in Kakeru to pull up their files. I knew that he had competed in the Battle Bladers Tournament in Japan, the Beyblade World Championships for the African team as their leader (hence how he knew Nile and Damure), and I knew he'd fought against Nemesis, and many of the details of the time between the first tournament and now by my connections with the WBBA—the whole world had been watching—I knew everything I'd learned about him as a person since we'd met.

"Not that much," I admitted softly. "What I heard from his brother and what I've gotten since we met."

"… You might want to sit down. This could be awhile." He gestured to a pile of flat rocks to my left, which I hunkered down on as he plopped on his back beside me, staring at the gray sky.

He started from the time he'd met Kyoya, battling him for challenging a gang Benkei had started called the Face-Hunters, a group of bladers that made their way by smashing every opponent to bits and shattering their confidence. The big guy's sullen expression was enough to allow me to forgive him for something he very obviously regretted. Try and try as he may, he never stood a chance against the ferocious battle style of our friend. Eventually that led to the two sticking together (willingly or not) and Kyoya eventually taking over as the leader of the Face-Hunters, apparently very ruthless but highly respected by most the members. Travis, Nick and Richie hadn't gotten along with Kyoya from the start, or so Benkei told me. They had several falling outs around the time that Gingka showed up, and after the former's victory, Kyoya's attitude had driven them to quit the gang and seek help from the only agency that could do anything for them—the WBBA.

Then came the part where the now disbanded Face-Hunters' leader was accepted by the Dark Nebula as a member and trainee, only to invariably lose to his rival once again and join forces to fight against Doji and Ryuuga, hence the Battle Bladers Tournament where he'd taken a devastating loss against the dragon blader that had left him immobile in a coma. I was perfectly aware of details of his recovery and the events that followed, and Benkei knew that and didn't dwell on it.

Though I knew the stories were far from over, there was a pause in conversation that left him time to think before he spoke again, this time of what little he knew about the time periods prior to their meeting. He'd left Kakeru at a young age to travel on his own, living in the wild to train. It had harshened his personality, strengthened his will, and increased his distrust and dislike of people. He had thought most of us weren't worth much of anything, and much preferred to live on his own. He had admitted, though, that the drawbacks to being a human were sometimes lesser than the benefits of being with a group. The rivalries he'd formed with the others up to this point had softened his person, but not enough for him to be considered an all-around kind-hearted person.

"In reality, I think he's really got a bit of little kid inside him competing for the attention he never got as a kid. After so much time of isolation, he's been looking for someone to care about him and somebody he can trust." Chewing on his lip, he paused again. "He really likes you. I think it's 'cause you're tough and he knows you can stand up to him, but you're sweet and pretty down to earth… And you genuinely care, not like the bullshit that some other people have fed him just to use him and break him." He turned his red eyes to me, and I caught the sorrow echoed in them as well as the determination. "I don't really hate you, you know. I don't know how someone could. But I'm cautious of you. You could be the one thing that he's never been certain about." All of a sudden, I understood him. He wasn't mean or angry or possessive… He was _protective_. It was incredibly sweet, actually. After all the time he'd spent with his friend, he was concerned for his well-being and happiness because he knew that he couldn't be the one to give that to Kyoya, in the end. "I don't want to see him hurt, not when he's worked so hard against it."

"I… I understand." The stare that lingered between the two of us told him what he needed to know.

"Do you really care about him?"

I closed my eyes, inhaling slowly through my nose to calm my racing heart, though to no avail. "Yes," I whispered. "And it scares me. I want so badly to be able to help him… But I'm afraid of being hurt again. I don't want him to tell me he cares one minute and then completely ignore me the next. I couldn't take that again, Benkei."

"If that's the truth… Then, please, don't give up on him. Don't let him think he's not worth it, ever. Don't let him go just because he's hurting and telling you that you could do better." I blinked in shock, letting the words seep in before I nodded and he gave me the same motion.

We sat staring at the water again, nothing more to be said between us in the current moment as I processed everything once again. If I could make Kyoya happy, that would be my whole world coming down to a reason for me to live. And I _could_ live for that… I found that nothing I'd learned had changed a single thing I thought, though for other people it might have created doubt. It was as if my mind wouldn't allow me to do so when many others had given up on me because of knowledge of my past… There was no way I could go against everything I'd fought for all this time.

Closing my eyes once more, I pictured the few times I'd seen the wide smile that stunned my nerves and sent my heart into erratic pounding. The immense joy it brought me to see him happy was blinding, and there was enough of it from the scarce memories I had to be almost painful. I wanted that for him, just as I'd said on their first night here. I wanted to be the one to make him smile, because… Dammit, I was in love with him. My mind simply couldn't handle lying to itself anymore, and as the truth exploded inside my skull, I saw stars and tears spilled over, trailing down my cheeks as I threw my head back and laughed for a long moment, then turned to Benkei and hugged him tightly. He didn't seem quite sure what to do with that, but I didn't care. "Thank you," I whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't understand earlier, I'm sorry if I've ever given you a reason to doubt me, and I'm sorry for anything I've ever said to you that might make you think I'm not grateful. Because honestly, I've never been more grateful to anyone in my whole life than I am to you right now." Sitting back on my knees, I smiled warmly at the blush on his face. Kyoya was lucky to have him as a friend, whether he always appreciated it or not.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I owe you big time, Benkei."

"Nah…" Hesitating for a moment, he ducked his head and muttered, "If you guys get married…"

"Emmett won't like it, but you can totally be Best Man." My grin widened to the point of pain as he blushed darker.

"Thanks…"

"But we gotta get there first… Speaking of which, shouldn't we probably head back?" The sky looked like it was ready to give at any moment. "I'm sure Emmett's there and he's just _dying_ to drag the three of us girls to..." _Victoria's Secret…_ I groaned, running my hands back through my hair.

"Can' help you there. But knowing Masamune, you'll be followed." The snicker in is voice earned him a good-natured growl before I chuckled as well at the thought of the black-haired male hiding in a bush at the mall with a pair of binoculars to peer into the shops where we would inevitably be trying on skimpy bikinis, if my gay friend had his way with us.

The trek back up to the house involved much shoving and racing, and for once I didn't mind that my normally fast pace fell short behind his. Maybe the two of us could get along if we were both working toward the same goal. Huffing, we stumbled up onto the back porch as I giggled at his severe lack of breath while my own breathing was barely labored. In response, he pushed me to the side into the railing before I followed him into the house, still giggling madly. This got me many raised eyebrows, but neither of us really cared.

"Iris!" I coughed as Emmett's large form flattened the air out of me. When he dropped me, I caught the pout on his face, and had to resist not crooning at the way his bottom lip poked out. Because, I had to face it, he was freaking _adorable._ A big guy for sure, but he was a huge teddy bear with a rounded and friendly face, paired with dark blonde bangs that flopped in front of his very green eyes. "You weren't here when I showed up…" He sounded like a little two year-old asking mommy for a cookie.

"Aw, I'm sorry baby. I… Kinda had some things that needed to be sorted out." Shooting a glance at Benkei, I sighed. "There's still some things, but… Nothing I can fix right this moment."

"So we can go shopping?" The way his face lit up made it impossible for me to say no. "Besides," he added, drawing out the 'i' sound, "I haven't had the chance to see you for your birthday in three years, and I'm not passing this up!" My eyes widened and flashed to the calendar on the wall by the stove. I cursed under my breath.

"That's tomorrow?" I muttered. "Really, Em, it's okay… I'm not sure I—"

Bouts of squealing and cheering erupted from the others, who crowded me and pelted me with questions like why I hadn't told them. In all honesty, I'd forgotten. When you're an agent, they don't exactly send you birthday wishes, and before that I hadn't really cared about the day anyway. There wasn't anything special about it… I mean, it was July 4. No one paid any attention on a day like that.

"How old are you gonna be, Iris?" Kenta said excitedly.

"Twenty-one," I murmured. "It's really not a big deal guys. I hate parties and stuff. I'd prefer to forget about it…" Faces fell and I instantly regretted it. "I wouldn't hate you for doing something," I added hesitantly. "I just don't see why there's anything to be excited about. I'd rather go mud-bogging or something than blow out candles on a cake."

"How about the fair?" Allie smiled, holding up a flier. "We could do this tomorrow night. There's gonna be fireworks over at the fairgrounds for the fourth. Not birthday-ish, but still fun." I thought for a moment before nodding.

"That's okay I guess. I haven't had a funnel cake in forever."

Emmett threw his fist in the air, practically squealing in delight. It was quite a sight. "Wait, wait, wait! I got another idea to go with that one."

Suddenly I had the feeling this wasn't going to end well.

* * *

**This is so short… But writing anymore would make this much too long… so… Yeah. No reviews this time, and no commentary on the chapter. So… I'm working on the next one? Yeah. I'll get that up. And I'll leave to your imagination their shopping trip simply because it's more fun. The next couple of chapters will be quite long, cuz there will be some stuff happening. Have fun while I work my butt off, dears. **

**~Thorn**


	12. Eleven: Part Of My World

**Eleven: Part Of My World**

I stared at myself in the full-length mirror on my door with wide eyes. Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what to make of the country beauty staring back at me with huge violet eyes that were both mine and not at the same time. They were bordered by thick black lashes, the work of Allie's skilled hand with a mascara brush. Her cheeks were pale pink from blush, her eyes accented by goldish earth tones, her lips faintly shimmering in the center where Madoka had touched them with glittery lip-gloss. Brown hair cascaded around her face with the exception of two small pigtails near the back that were tied up so that the festive red and blue orbs on the hairbands sat perfectly against her head. Her clothes consisted of a white one-shouldered tee with the American flag on the front, a pair of washed out blue-jean shorts and navy blue converse. She was so striking that it took me several blinks to turn her back into me. There really wasn't that much make-up on my face, but what little there was accentuated every line and curve. I was impressed.

"Wow, you guys… I look amazing…" I gaped back at the two of them, who looked very smug at their work. Putting the caps and lids back on some of the containers, Allie responded,

"We didn't do much of anything with the gorgeous canvas we were given. It shines through on its own. You can thank Emmett for the outfit, by the way. For all the lingerie that guy tries to buy you, he did a damn good job with this."

I bit my lip, turning to stare at myself again to pray this would accomplish what they had set out to help me accomplish. Just thinking about anything resembling a _date_ with _Kyoya_ was enough to send my stomach doing backflips. How they'd manage to make this work, I had no idea, but I had to trust them.

"The guys should be about done ripping Kyoya a new ass, so Madoka, you better go check. And Iris, I don't literally mean that, in case you happened to _like_ his ass." I blushed and Allie nodded, satisfied. "There, some natural color was all you needed."

"So what exactly _is_ your plan for all of this…?" I inquired, but received nothing more than a shake of her head and black hair tickling my shoulder as she replaced my mother's locket around my neck. As irritating as it was that no one would tell me anything since yesterday, maybe that was better, since all things considered, I probably wouldn't like the answer too much, or I'd freak out over the ridiculousness of it. Knowing my friend, it was some big scheme that would take a lot of pushing and tugging, and maybe other things that I probably wasn't ready for yet. I could only pray that she wouldn't go overboard with this.

"You're not allowed to take your—"

"Don't you _dare_ tell me I can't take my bike," I warned. If there was one damned thing I could control, it was my bike, and she knew it. She had about as much say in that aspect as I' had when they'd been throwing mascara on my face. "I'll be careful, and it's only a five minute ride anyway, and I can't go fast through town, so my hair will be okay." My friend pursed her lips in thought before nodding slowly. With one last look over ourselves, we headed downstairs to meet the others. I was extremely confused when we were the only ones in the house, turning my gaze to Allie and scrunching my eyebrows.

"What?" She grinned. "I sent them on ahead when Madoka went to talk to them. I didn't want the two of you seeing each other and ruining my plan."

Well, shit. Wasn't that the complete opposite of what we should have been doing? Wasn't the idea for us to _see_ each other? Instead of pointing out her very backwards plan I asked, "Does he even know what's going on?"

"He's got no idea, but Lucas was very… persuasive in getting him into the clothes we chose. Don't worry," she added, closing the door behind us when we stepped outside. "They're not overkill. Very casual but nice at the same time. And possibly quite… well, you'll see when you see. Which won't be for approximately another two hours or so." I gaped at her. The plan involved keeping us apart, I got that. But didn't she think _two hours_ was a bit much, maybe? "Oh, bite me, girl. I know what I'm doing," she pouted, crossing her arms.

_You'd better, or else I might have to strangle you for this._

Lucky for us, the sky was clear of clouds at eight o'clock when we pulled into the fairgrounds. I parked next to Allie in her small Ford, looking along the horizon as I pulled my helmet off and shoved it in the saddlebag, checking my hair before I climbed off. It was getting darker, and in the opposite direction, stars were already starting to peek out. It was warm but not too warm, with a slight breeze that was perfect for a summer night. The air reflected the many colors coming from the rides and attractions, the scent of hotdogs and popcorn and animals mingling together. It was a strange and comforting smell—the smell of home. I smiled to myself as I followed Allie past the teacups to meet Madoka, who was waiting patiently by the Tilt-A-Whirl… With Gingka.

"Status report!" Allie huffed seriously.

Saluting briefly and puffing out his chest, the ginger responded, "Everything is in order, ma'am!"

Allie nodded slowly in thought, waving her hand after a moment. "Very well! You are free to go."

Grabbing Madoka's wrist, he took off, the girl grinning back at us before moving her feet quicker to catch up. When I looked at my remaining friend like 'what now' she shrugged and gestured to the ride next to us.

The next hour and a half were composed of a lot of rides, a lot of laughing and several drinks of soda snorted through our noses in shock or hilarity. I'd forgotten the kind of fun one could have with her best friend when it was just the two of them, hanging out and doing whatever they wanted. There was a truck pull going on, and we stayed to watch for a little while, cheering when our friend Alex made it the farthest of anyone in his class. He grinned and waved to us from where we stood on the fence. Many familiar faces moseyed by during that time as well, stopping briefly to chat or just to say hey before moving onto other festivities. We stopped briefly to get cotton candy and giggled at each other as we took bites, making faces of awe when the sugar dissolved on our tongues like we'd never heard of such a thing. The looks we got from passersby only made it that much funnier. Swallowing a mouthful of the fluff, Allie said,

"Hey! Look, there's that dart game!"

I groaned. I may have been the Number Six agent for the WBBA, I may have been a tough as hell blader with amazing aim and skill, but I was the absolute _worst_ player of darts on the face of the planet. I couldn't hit a stationary dartboard, let alone very small _moving_ balloons to win anything. I was a hopeless loser when it came to the game, and she knew it. She, on the other hand, was the most amazing darts player ever, and it made me insanely jealous.

"Do we have to?"

"Of course!" There was a gleam in her eyes that I wasn't sure I liked too much. As I predicted, she won a huge dolphin stuffed animal and I failed to hit a single balloon. It was something too ridiculous to get upset about, so instead I just ran my fingers over one of the meshy fins of the stuffie. My black-haired friend smiled triumphantly and I rolled my eyes, almost jumping out of my skin when she threw a hand up and yelled to the others, who were apparently coming from behind me. Before they could see, she ducked her head and looked at me very seriously. I understood. _Showtime._

Turning, I smiled widely. "Hey, guys. Enjoying the fair?"

Masamune skipped up to me and nodded. "Yeah! It's great! I got a deep-fried Oreo! Possibly the most amazing thing ever!" I just laughed as Gingka joined in in telling me all the things they'd tried at the different vendors. I kept my focus on them as opposed to letting it wander.

"Did you try this game, too, Iris?" Yuu wondered, looking at the balloons. I gave him a defeated smile, holding my hands out and shrugging with an exaggerated sigh.

"Yeah. I'm not good at darts—didn't hit a single balloon. I never do though; it's just not my thing. I'm not that worried about it, there's plenty of other things to do." Pausing I said, "Actually, I think I'd like to go on my own for a bit. I'll see you guys later, okay?" Ignoring the furious gaze directed at me by Allie, I headed off, purposely not even looking to see if Kyoya was there at all.

I hated to admit it to myself but I wasn't ready yet. I couldn't face him when my head was in the clouds—that only led to me acting foolishly when I knew what I wanted. The whimsy of the lights and buzzing of the rides lulled me into a daze, something I knew I didn't need but couldn't help. Vague I remembered strolling to the edge of the fairgrounds to lean on the metal chain-link fence and breathe while my fingers gripped the wire. By the time my thoughts were coherent again, I became aware of music coming from the small stage in the very center of the fairgrounds. Since I was going to have to head that way, I decided to stop and see who was playing. It must have been a newer band, since I didn't recognize any of the faces, but the song that came from the lead singer's throat was an all too familiar one: When You Say Nothing At All, the version by Allison Crause. I paused, rocking back on my heels and linking my hands behind me to sing softly with the band.

_It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart_

_Without saying a word you can light up the dark_

_Try as I may I could never explain_

_What I hear when you don't say a thing_

_The smile on your face lets me know that you need me_

_There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me_

_The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall_

_You say it best when you say nothing at all_

A light brush against my shoulder made me turn and stare. Standing two feet behind me was Kyoya, studying his shoes with great interest. Allie had been telling the truth, and I finally understood why she wouldn't want me to see him before I was supposed to—in that moment I had a very hard time not throwing myself at him and kissing him until he loved me, or possibly losing my mind first. Loose boot-cut blue jeans with a chain hanging from the belt loops covered the tops of a pair of black and gray Reeboks—very different from his normal hiking boots; replacing his tank and jacket was a dark green t-shirt with a silver skull with a dagger in its mouth, the entire image wrapped in barbed wire. Tucked under his left arm was a decent-sized stuffed animal, much like the one Allie had won—except that this one was a lion with little strips of fabric sewn on as the mane. I was so startled by his presence that my lips were unable to form any more words.

_All day long I can hear people talking out loud_

_But when you pull me near, you drown out the crowd_

_Old Mr. Webster could never define_

_What's being said between your heart and mine_

_The smile on your face lets me know that you need me_

_There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me_

_The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall_

_You say it best when you say nothing at all_

About halfway through the second chorus, he took a deep breath and glanced up at me. He looked incredibly nervous, something that was both extremely uncommon and quite adorable. Chewing on his bottom lip, he pushed the lion to me, once again averting his eyes. I looked down at it, running my fingers over the soft fur. It occurred to me that if he had won this, it must have killed him to have people staring at him as a big, tough guy carried a cute doll like this around while he was looking for me, which I knew he had been. I wasn't quite sure what to say to this unexpected show of—dare I say it—affection.

_The smile on your face lets me know that you need me_

_There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me_

_The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall_

_You say it best when you say nothing at all_

The last note hung in the air between us and I squeezed my arms around the stuffed animal, watching and waiting anxiously for him to speak. He didn't, only shoved his hands in his pockets and hunched over slightly. The position reminded me of the stance that L Lawliet often had when he wasn't sitting in his signature crouch, and an involuntary smile worked its way to my face. Stepping over to him, I laid a hand on his shoulder and stood on my toes to peck his cheek lightly.

"Thank you," I murmured. "It was really sweet of you to do that…" A soft, deep sound came from the back of his throat that may have resembled something of a purr. "So…" I bit my lip briefly before continuing. "So, what'd you wanna do?" Blue eyes met mine, and they were very confused. "We could just walk around," I suggested. He shrugged faintly, obviously quite lost. I watched for a moment before my gaze softened. With a quiet 'come on,' I grabbed his hand and headed back to all the rides and stuff. "Just calm down," I offered lightly. "Nobody around here knows you other than the guys. And if they say a word, I will personally see that their tongues get cut out."

The crooked smile that plastered itself to his face was enough to make me laugh. "Besides, Gingka was too distracted anyway, and Masamune's a moron." I pondered his words for a moment.

"Distracted? I'm assuming you mean Madoka pining over him like a lost puppy. The girl's so cute, but she can be a head-case. And be nice," I added, shoving him gently. "Masamune's just not right in the head. He's jealous is all. Can't compete with Kitty Boy."

Ordinarily the teasing name would have set him off, but it only succeeded in changing the bright smile into a smug smirk. I rolled my eyes, somewhat glad for him to be at least a bit more normal—I wasn't sure I could deal with shy Kyoya, since I wasn't forward unless the other person was. In all honesty, I was just as nervous as he was. After what happened with Ray, I had to learn everything I knew about love all over again, and I was finding that this was so much easier than that had been.

"We should ride the Zipper." I paused, looking up at the ride with zeal. It was like an oblong Ferris wheel, with carts that spun freely as the entire oval spun. When I leveled my gaze back to him, I poked my bottom lip out slightly to the side. "Please?" Rolling his eyes, he reached over to pull my lip out of its previous position to a more normal one.

"'Kay."

The line was painfully long, like always, but this time I didn't mind. As it turned out, Allie was right in front of us with another girl that she'd met through community college, and I ended up chatting with her for the time we were standing there, though never letting go of Kyoya's hand. When I glanced occasionally to him, I found that he was either staring off into space or he was fixated on me, eyes glimmering curiously. Sadly, I had to hand the lion off to another one of Allie's friends, but knowing I would get it back that way made it worth it.

As the oval rotated to allow more passengers in the other boxes once we were strapped in, my friend grinned at me from the cart across the way, winking as she made a spinning gesture with her fingers. I giggled back, earning a raised eyebrow from the green-haired boy next to me. I turned my head to him, smiling innocently as the ride began to move. _Three, two, one…_ With a huge jerk forward, I flipped the cart upside down, grinning broadly at the scowl on Kyoya's face. He looked awfully funny with his bangs sticking up above his head, ponytail hanging toward the ceiling. Again and again we spun, and when the ride reversed direction, so did we. I focused on the 'flashing' lights of the next ride over as everything finally slowed and we returned to an upright position.

"Wasn't that fun?" I giggled. He grumbled a response as he brushed his hair somewhat flat again with the backs of his fingers.

"Obnoxiously entertaining. Let's not do it again and say we did."

I rolled my eyes at him as the door of the cart opened, bounding over to the girl holding my lion and taking it eagerly as I debated what to do next. Maybe another ride wasn't such a good idea, and I wasn't sure I was up for any more stupid games, though if that was what he wanted to do I was okay with it. We could go watch the truck pull, but that could get boring after a while. The band was playing and I wouldn't have minded going to listen to them with Allie, where we could dance like morons, but I didn't have to ask to know he wasn't big on dancing or intentionally making a fool of himself. This left a dilemma; there wasn't much else to do here until the fireworks started at eleven—they would run until midnight then.

"Hey… I'm gonna get a soda. You want one?" I blinked, looking up as he drew me from my thoughts and realized we'd walked about halfway across the fairgrounds without my noticing.

"Ah… yeah, sure."

"'Kay. Be back in a couple." Hesitantly, he leaned over and pecked my cheek. Whether he rushed away after that or my mind just didn't register that he'd gone, I wasn't sure. Honestly, my mind quit firing for several moments after that, and I fell back to lean on the fence while stupefied giggles escaped my lips. That had really just happened. Reaching up, I brushed my fingertips over the spot his lips had touched, the warmth lingering and the skin tingling slightly. I was so absorbed in a little fantasy that my brain conjured up to acknowledge the three men approaching me.

"Heya, Sweet," one purred. His breath smelled of cigarettes and I wrinkled my nose, turning my head away slightly. "You're a cute little thing. Come with us and we'll show you a better time than any ride at this fair."

I was disgusted. This was supposed to be a fun, easy-going place where families could gather. Our town hadn't been this way with these kinds of people when I was younger, and I missed being able to feel safe without punks like this showing up. The three were all reasonably tall; one was obnoxiously skinny, one built like a runner, and the one blowing smoke in my face looked like someone had shoved steroids down his throat by the gallon. I figured being so much smaller than them would give me an advantage if I needed one, though I doubted I would have any problem kicking their asses into next week if I had to.

"No thank you," I answered innocently, hugging my lion and widening my eyes. "I'm here with a friend, actually. He just went to get us something to drink, and he'll be right back. You guys seem nice and all, but I think I'll have to politely decline your offer." Play the innocent girl card first, on the offhand chance they would leave me alone by my asking. It was a longshot, but it was worth a go.

The skinny one laughed, and I noted the Brooklyn accent as he spoke. Go figure, they probably weren't actually from around here. "I don't think she understood, Chase." The athlete grinned, leaning on his friend's shoulder.

"We wasn't asking, dearie. We was just being polite."

Well, that didn't work. Time to go for the real me approach. "Fuck off, ya horny assholes. I don't want a damn thing to do with you. I'm on a _date_, and you're not going to interfere, or you might _really _regret it." For a moment, they all appeared shocked at my sudden personality change. Then they burst out laughing. Not a plus for them, since it only pissed me of more. Not taking me seriously was a big no-no.

"You got spunk, Sweet. We like that." Blowing more smoke in my face, he leaned down to cup my chin in his hand.

"She said, _fuck off._" The snarled voice brought an involuntary grin to my face.

"Ah, you're back!" I laughed brightly. "See, fellas, I told you. I'm occupied at the moment. So, if you don't mind—" I jerked my face away, ducking under the big guy's arm and heading to Kyoya. I didn't get very far before my own left arm was twisted and pressed to my back. I frowned at the slight pain. The dark expression on my friend's face said that if I didn't do something now, he was going to, and it wouldn't be pretty. I didn't doubt for a moment that these morons wouldn't have any teeth or balls left to try anything like this again when Kyoya was done with them.

"You ain't going anywhere, Sweet. Sorry to break it to ya. Now, tell your _boyfriend _there that you're going away for a bit to have some fun, and we won't hurt 'im." The words were a low hiss in my ear.

"But I don't _want_ to go with you," I growled back, yanking my arm away easily. It was a faint pain that wouldn't last very long, though I might have marks where he squeezed my elbow. Dammit, and I was doing so well not getting myself hurt recently… Turning with my back to Kyoya, I sneered at all of them. I was beyond mild irritation now—I was _livid_. If there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was bullying or harassment. When men had no respect for women, it set me off. "Listen here, dick. I haven't got time to screw with you or a desire to do so. So take a hike and you might leave with everything you own still intact."

"Why you—" The pain didn't register, so I only knew that my vision was suddenly redirected from the man to the ground on my left. Brushing my tongue over my lip, an irony, rusty taste filled my mouth and I raised my head again. The expression on my face must have been at least somewhat frightening, because the other two men suddenly looked less intent on their goal, backing up to the fence.

"Bad move, Chief," I snarled through my teeth as I raised my fit and promptly connected it with his face. Cold satisfaction poured into my veins—or maybe it was adrenaline—when I felt his nose crack under my knuckles. Swearing, he stumbled back, blood dripping through his fingers where he gripped his face. "Now back off! Or so help me God, I will ensure that you bloodline ends _here._" The fear that ripped through the man's dark eyes told me all I needed to know. The muscles were definitely steroid-induced, and he wasn't as strong as he played to be. He knew I could so some serious damage and that I wouldn't hold anything back if he kept screwing with me. When I stepped forward threateningly, a small squeak came from his throat and he took off, the other two hard on his heels. I snorted. What a bunch of pansies.

"You okay?" A light touch to my unhandled arm made me let out a sigh.

"I can't stand people like that." Turning to him, I nodded slowly. "I'm okay. Just… a little bit irritated now."

He watched me for a moment, his blue eyes searching my face. Then, grabbing a napkin from his pocket, he began to dab at the crack towards the corner of my mouth. The gentleness of the action surprised me; it wasn't at all what I expected from Kyoya Tategami, the fierce beast blader. He wouldn't look me in the eyes as he did so, focusing on what he was doing.

Behind him, I noticed the group racing towards us in a panic, Masamune and Madoka right at the front and everyone else in a hurry to keep up.

"Iris! Kyoya!" His movements froze, and finally he met my stare. Instantly, I reached up and took the napkin from him, pressing it to my lip so he could cross his arms over his chest like always. I knew what it meant to him to have to retain _some_ form of a reputation, and I had accepted it because I knew how that felt.

Madoka tackled me in a bone-crushing hug, practically ready to cry. Brown bangs falling over her alarmed eyes, she asked, "Are you alright? We heard there was something going on here, and then we saw those guys run off—"

"I'm fine, Madoka." Lowering my hand from my mouth, I smiled. "Really. They were just trying what morons always do, and I took care of it."

"Your lip!" Masamune's eyes widened and he pushed by the girl to stare at the split that was still, though barely bleeding. "They hit you?" He sounded furious, and I smiled again.

"The one guy slapped me. But I broke his nose, so that's a fair trade." I didn't bother to mention my arm, since they were better off not knowing anyway.

"Where was Kyoya?" I stiffened, knowing exactly what the Unicorn blader was implying as most of their gazes rested on my 'date.'

"He went to go get a soda." I shrugged, making it clear that there was no harm in that.

"He left you _alone_?" The accusation was enough to boil my blood again, but in a different way than the stalkers had.

"Hold on just a second!" I barely suppressed my voice to a spit from a snarl. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to here? I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself! I don't need someone protecting me twenty-four hours a day! Stop treating me like I'm a baby Masamune! I could easily kick all of your asses, so stop acting so high and mighty and _think_ for once instead of being jealous and insulting my ability as a woman to defend myself!"

I couldn't even form any more words around my anger, so instead my legs chose themselves to storm off in a random direction. Something inside of me knew that I wasn't really mad at him—I'd just snapped because of the frustration of knowing that if Kyoya hadn't showed up, there might not have been an opening for me to get away. I might have been able to beat each one of them on their own easily, but the three of them together could have pinned me down and gagged me. Because I knew I might not have been strong enough. No, I wasn't upset with him, but with myself. If I was stronger, people wouldn't have to worry about me. I didn't want them to have to worry about me, not when so many other people needed their feelings so much more. The thought made me ashamed.

The place I stopped was a hill outside the fairgrounds, far enough away that I could barely hear the music and on the opposite side so that anyone who just happened to walk by wouldn't see me. And where no eyes could watch, I cried. Hard. Everything that was once again welled up inside me spilled out like the opening of floodgates. I actually shocked myself at the intense amount of self-loathing I had developed when I'd thought I was past it. The sane, non-mush part of my mind knew better than to think that I wasn't worth their time, but had no choice but to let the sloshy part do as it may with my body—which meant a big, blubbery mess curled up in the fetal position in the cool grass.

When I could finally breathe and wipe my eyes, I sat up and brushed a few now-damp strands of hair from my cheeks, pulling out my cell and shooting Madoka a quick text. _Hey, apologize to everyone for me. Masamune too, but I'm going to talk to him in person when I'm not a mess. Things just… Got to me again. _

She answered relatively quickly, like she'd been waiting for me to say something. _We all know. You're not like that, and Kyoya told us what he saw. Don't think you're not good enough, either. We worry about you because we care. Nothing is going to change that, so get used to it. And Masamune was a little shook up, but he's okay and not upset with you or anything._

A small smile brought itself to my face at her ability to pick out exactly what I'd been thinking. _Thanks Madoka. I'll meet you guys back at the house if you leave before me—I brought the bike so I can go on my own._

She never answered, but I didn't expect her to. I stared up at the stars for I didn't know how long, letting my reeling brain calm. The breeze that grazed over my cheeks seemed cooler from the lingering wetness, and I shook my head slightly.

"What?" I almost jumped out of my skin, to be honest. I hadn't even realized anyone had seen me, let alone gotten close enough that I could hear them perfectly, even when their voice was a soft question such as that one. I looked up into Kyoya's concerned eyes and offered him a weak smile. I just didn't have the mental drive at the moment to think of a snappy remark about him always sneaking up on me. Actually, in that second, I didn't have the capacity to do a damn thing. Not when less than two inches away from me were lips that I _very_ badly wanted to kiss. Instead, I swallowed and conjured up an acceptable question.

"Wh-when did you…?"

The corner of his mouth turned up slightly at the squeak in my voice. "I didn't see you crying, if that's what you were asking. But it's not hard to tell…" he murmured as he ran a finger over my cheek lightly to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. "We were all worried about you, you know." It seemed like tonight was his night to completely blow my freaking mind with all his out-of-character declarations. Or maybe this was just how he acted when he really cared about someone. I couldn't be sure, but it never failed to startle me at least a bit. "You've got to stop doing things like that."

"L-like what?" I whispered, trembling slightly as his fingers slid down to my jaw.

"Running off. Yelling at us for worrying about you." With a second's hesitation, he added, "Not trusting me enough to be able to defend you." The last statement hit closest to home. He didn't think I trusted him.

"No!" My voice was louder than his had been and he drew back slightly in surprise. "I just… I… I didn't want to see you get hurt… I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself if—"

And then my world freaking _exploded._ I honestly couldn't tell whether the fireworks had started or if all the colors and booms were in my head and behind my eyelids when they drifted closed. The only thing I was certain of was that the pressure on my lips could possibly have been the closest thing to absolute _heaven_ I would ever get in this life or then next. My mouth moved on its own, molding and moving against the lips of the boy I now realized had destroyed every hope I'd ever had of keeping myself hidden from humanity, holed up inside myself in misery. It was as if my soul shattered and pieced itself back together, stronger than before, bonded by something I'd told myself I would never allow to happen. Need. I needed him like I needed air to breathe and water to drink. No, I needed him more than that. I needed him more than I needed my own life. When he wasn't around, I missed him. When he was, I couldn't be happier. The part of it that made me want to cry was that by some miracle, he seemed to need me too.

He kissed me until I was sure we would suffocate. Even so, neither of us was happy when the undeniable lack of oxygen separated our mouths. My head was higher than the clouds and my breathing was like the fire of a machine gun, but I didn't care one bit. Neither of us spoke, even once we were able to. Instead, he only leaned in to brush his nose over mine. I was starting to think that might be some little affectionate thing he'd picked up from cats, but it was so sweet that I didn't mind. If there was any better time to say something, I'd be willing to take a blow to the head for it, but as of right now with both of us stuck in our own little world, his fingers still in my hair and mine on his neck as our breaths mingled in the little air between us, the words spilled off my tongue.

"I never thought I'd be able to say this to anyone, because I never even said it to Ray." Kyoya's face tightened slightly at the mention of my ex, but I continued without pause. "I care about you more than I care about me or anyone else. I want you to be happy, and that matters more to me than my own happiness. When you smile, it makes me smile. When you're here, you're my sun. When you're gone… I went a whole year without seeing you, and it rained all the time. The only time I could even do so much as barely attempt to be happy was when I could look down and see your name on my phone or your face when Madoka insisted on Skype. Kyoya…" I had to take a deep breath to steady myself. The last words came out as a murmur, though a confident one. "I love you."

Time around us stood still as his eyes searched mine for any hint of doubt. I knew that was what he was doing, because his own held the smoldering uncertainty of the truth of my words. Maybe what gave him his suspicion was the lack of emotion anyone had ever felt for him, or maybe it was his unwillingness to believe that anyone could ever stand to really love him, but there were eons of pain inside the brief glimpse I found of the inner world that he hid away from everyone else, for fear he might be broken or betrayed by anyone he dared open himself to… I hated that he'd been caused to hurt so much. I hated everything that had ever made him afraid of the world and everyone in it who may have tried to care about him, but were pushed away by his false desire to protect his pride—the only thing he was left with when everything else was stripped away from him by the eyes that refused to see him for what he was, only choosing to see the front he put up for the rest of the world when he thought no one could tell he was lying.

His answer finally came in the form of an unsteady, rough whisper. "I love you too."

* * *

**Somebody kill me for that god awful cheesy ending… That was a long chapter, haha. Phew, glad it's finally finished. ****Anybody get the L reference? ;D You know you love me. Hahaha. **

**So I've already got about a thousand words of the next chapter as well, due to an idea that decided to pop up in my brain as a scene, so I should have it up tomorrow, probably. Can you guys believe it? Has anyone looked and compared the word count for the two versions of this? With this chapter, Dimensional has reached over 50K, double what the original was! I'm estimating that this will be around 65-70K when I finish, though that's very rough. Yay me!**

**No reviews again, but I'm just too pumped to be upset. So please, put something in that little box at the bottom and make me happier, please! Love you guys!  
~Thorn**


	13. Epilogue: The Wind That Brought You Back

**Epilogue: The Wind That Brought You Back**

_December 24, 2017_

The first signs of that February snow were the almost-black clouds that rolled in from the horizon that morning, reminiscent of the gloom in my heart for most of the previous two and a half years. With it came the first flakes of the entire winter, the clearest white specks of any that locked themselves away in my mind after that. Vividly I can recall the kitchen windows of my house fogging up from the heat of the woodstove across the room as I traced patterns in it with the tip of my finger. Outside, the pine trees in the front yard stiffly held up to the buckling wind that would have blown me away, had I tried my own luck against it.

Stream rose from the green mug in my left hand, and I leaned back into the corner of the counter, watching through lidded eyes as a very young girl with honey-blonde ringlets stumbled her way to me. Her red and white dress with a small reindeer head sewn to the front fell to her knees, white stockings and black boots scuffling against the floor with every step. Beaming at me with her bright green eyes, she reached up, opening and closing her fingers. I scooped her into my arms and rested her against my hip, sighing softly as her small hands stroked my hair. I'd let it grow out so that it fell to the small of my back in light waves, and Lucas and Rachel's daughter seemed quite fond of the length.

Against all odds, my brother had gotten married in August of 2015 with Madison born less than a month later. Rachel was a kind-hearted soul, and I was happy for Lucas to have found someone to help him through life. They'd made their way and expanded his company exponentially, able to live totally at ease and provide for the little girl we all adored with every fiber of our beings. We all lived together in my mom's old house, like always, and we were inseparable as a family, and the holidays only brought us all closer. The huge tree in our living room was visible around the corner of the kitchen doorway. Red and gold ribbons wrapped the limbs, white lights reflecting from the glass ornaments and icicles, and a snow-white angel whose wings brushed the ceiling to top it off. Around the base were packages of all sizes and colors that I had to continually remind my niece not to open yet.

Christmas Eve was a time for family to come together and celebrate, and non-blood family was no exception. In fact, that was where Lucas and Rachel had gone an hour before then—to pick up the others at the airport, including Allie, who had hit it off with Tsubasa and decided to move to Japan to lie with him. I missed her a lot, but I could deal with that if she was happy. It was been about eight months since the last time I had seen everyone, and I was all too ready to look at the smiling faces gathered around the table as they laughed (and all the playful bickering that would surely come with it). However, as happy as I knew it would be, I couldn't be excited.

Around three months ago was the last time I had spoken to my boyfriend—the last time anyone had. Three years had left me more madly in love with him than I thought I would ever be with anyone, and at the same time, I'd gained the knowledge of what real love was like, so that I could be sure he was the only person I'd ever want. Every day that we couldn't be together we talked. The sound of his voice on the phone was enough for me to get by most of the time, but deep in my heart I knew it wasn't enough. There was just something about a physical body to hold that could never be substituted for by a dial tone. Still, we'd stayed in touch and visited as much as possible. Three months ago, though, was our last conversation to date. I hadn't known it then, but after that it was like he'd disappeared. The last call was normal for the first little bit: he'd murmured a soft hello when the phone had finally picked up, and I had greeted him back brightly. For a while, it had been the usual conversations about our day, but I could tell something was troubling him.

"_What's wrong? You sound upset." _

"_Not upset, not when I'm talking to you." That had made me smile for a brief moment, but his tone was still heavy. "I just… I need some time away from everything to think. I'm gonna take the next week or so off and head out to the woods. I just need some time to myself, you know?"_

_I frowned. "To think about what?"_

_There was silence for a long moment as he hesitated. "Us." _

_I was confused by the slightly higher note of his voice. As much as I knew he felt the same way I did, I didn't understand what else he could mean. "What about us?"_

_Yet again he was quiet before he answered. "I'm not sure myself. I'll call you right when I get back, though, alright?"_

"_Alright." It was useless to keep the crack out of my voice. He shushed me gently, murmuring words of comfort._

"_Hey, don't. I love you."_

_Squeezing my eyes shut to push back the tears and the fear, I told him I loved him right back. And the line went dead._

I bit my lip as a fresh wave of pain washed over me. He hadn't come back a week later. He hadn't come back at all. And when you need someone to the point of being unable to live without them, it leaves a hole when all of a sudden, they disappear. He wasn't going to be with them. My reason to live wasn't coming to see me. I'd even done the unthinkable and gotten in touch with Kakeru to find out if_ anyone_ had seen him, and he'd sent out mini-search parties to no avail, leaving me with the promise that if he were to show back up, we'd be the very first to know. But none of that made the bitter taste on my tongue weaken.

As if she could sense my hurt, Madison buried her small face into my neck, wrapping her arms around my neck. I hugged her back, gritting my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut to push back the tears that always seemed present in them. What would become of me? I wasn't going to survive without him, but I surely just couldn't leave my family because of it. Maybe I could learn to cope, as hopeless as that seemed. My prayers were still for him to return alive and well, and lord knows I prayed, all day every day.

The clicking of the lock on the front door signaled to me that it was time to pull myself together and put on a show, just like always. I set my niece down to run off to her parents as I straightened my clothing and plastered a fake smile to my face before I went to greet them in the front room. Madoka was the first to approach me, laughing as we embraced. She couldn't fool me—when she drew herself back to Gingka's side, there was poorly hidden sadness in her eyes, clearly directed at me. Masamune was more than ecstatic to see me again, kissing my cheek and grinning broadly. I offered him a small smile of gratitude that I was unable to make look even remotely real. It didn't matter—even the comforting embraces of my cousin and my best friend couldn't heal the broken pieces inside me. Dinner was more pleasant than I expected, with next to no bickering and lots of laughter. I joined in as best I could, but it was all half-hearted. The meal was abundant and smelled amazing, but the thought of trying to force food past my lips made me sick to my stomach. The fire burning in the hearth and the number of bodies cramped in the already tiny room did nothing to chase away the cold that settled over me.

After the table was cleared, I excused myself to the back porch, bundled up in a heavy jacket and scarf that I buried my nose into as I leaned on the rail. An inch or so of snow had already accumulated; the trees were beginning to form icicles on the branches and the tops of the blades of grass barely peeked through the white layer over the ground. The enormous gusts would have chilled me to the core had I not already felt colder than that. There was no particular reason I had chosen to be by myself just now since there was nothing more to think about in respect to my life. I'd contemplated every possibility and I had come to the conclusion that there was simply something doomed about me.

The severity of the pain I felt was due to a lack of any real emotion other _than_ that pain. I'd forgotten how to be happy when I drowned myself in sorrow over pining for the man I loved. Normally, I would have argued that anyone in my place would have felt the same thing, but I didn't think that was the case. The feeling was a black hole in my chest that refused to disappear, even for a moment. Maybe it was just the price I was left to pay for my sins—to be given true happiness to have it snatched away in the blink of an eye. _Yes, that would be fitting_, I mused. _Half a payment for everything I've done, even if I thought I'd atoned for everyone who ever felt pain because of me. I bet this is what all of them had in their hearts, all compact inside of me._

A knock behind me on the doorframe was followed by the downcast face of my favorite brunette. She was dressed much the same way as me, and she blinked slowly before brushing a few half-melted flakes of snow from my bangs. She didn't speak at first, and I caught her studying me with furrowed eyebrows. I didn't want her pity. I didn't deserve it for being depressed all the time. The storm continued around us; the only sound was that created by the wind. Finally, she got up the nerve to form words.

"He'll come back." She didn't sound so sure herself, but she was trying.

"Yeah," I answered flatly. The truth was that I couldn't believe her even if I wanted to. Once again we lapsed into silence. There was nothing she could say, and she knew it. I wanted to thank her for being here but the sentence stuck in my throat. This I what I was reduced to—suffering inside myself, just like before I'd met all of them. I wanted to beat my head against a wall and let all the hurt pour out into a puddle at my feet, but I was more likely to kill myself trying than to actually succeed.

Back inside was the opposite of where I wanted to be, however necessary it was. Wrapping paper and bows and plastic completely covered the room by the time everyone got around to opening the boxes we'd compiled. No immense amount of things could do for replacing the body I was missing.

As everyone enjoyed their gifts, I sank into the depths of my consciousness, falling to the black sea that always threatened to claim me if I didn't swim with all my might. It was at that moment that I first considered allowing my body to drown inside myself, wondering whether such a thing was possible if I simply ceased to fight the waves. An interesting proposition; cautiously, I permitted my limbs to fall limp and I slowly felt myself sink. Drowning, as it seemed, was rather painless. Hesitantly, I drew in a breath, sucking water instead of air. It wasn't as unpleasant as I would have thought—the water was strangely warm compared to the cold in my chest, and I rather liked the feeling of it filling me up. I eagerly took more, inhaling through my nose this time. It even _smelled_ nice: comforting and familiar, like a kitten's memory of mother's milk at birth. Maybe drowning myself had been enough to allow for a minutely painful end. The water was soft, cradling me like a young child in her crib as I began the gentle drift into nothingness. I was vaguely aware of my limbs being moved without my consent, probably tossed by the light current. There was a light pressure at my back and against my head as I settled at the bottom of the sea.

Then, there was nothing.

* * *

Dim lights came from past my eyelids as my mind tried to sort out thoughts. I'd just died, hadn't I? I'd drowned myself. So that meant that whatever was around my body had to be either heaven or hell. The idea woke me fully, but I dared not peer at whatever world I was in. I considered both of the options based on what I could feel. There was warmth on the side of my face—not unpleasant at all, and some sort of soft blanket covering me. If it was heaven, I would have defined the situation as safe. If it was hell, this was trickery to get me to suffer my more from punishments later. And to add to my hell theory, I had a _helluva _migraine. That didn't make sense—if I was dead, how could I possibly have a migraine? Unless this was some form of unjust retribution. And the weight on my side meant I was tied up. Panic rose inside me and my body—or spirit, as it were—reacted naturally. Or that was to say, I was going down swinging. The grunting told me that whatever held me was able to feel, and I might have hurt it. This pleased me and drove my hopes to the faint idea that I could fight back. Or, at least until there was a force on my mouth.

My mind couldn't piece together exactly what was going on, only that a sweet, aching pressure now formed itself to my lips. If I was already dead, then maybe there wasn't a point in fighting it. Hell must have had its perks, because this certainly wasn't torture; or maybe it was. The warmth of the touch that had me responding so easily was too light for my taste, as it was a delicate, hesitant trace of lips and tongue before the contact was broken. A whimper I hadn't intended escaped my still parted lips, but I was afraid to open my eyes for fear that either this brief moment of some other feeling than pain would disappear or what I saw would be far from pleasant. A light breath ghosted over my cheeks as what I assumed were fingers lightly grasped my chin.

"Sweetheart, look at me," came the whisper. Every nerve in my body froze. This screwed everything I'd thought. If it was heaven, he was dead. If it was hell, he was alive and it was some goddamn demon fucking with me. If the first was the case, I would cry for his life but accept that we were together. If it was the latter, someone was getting their ass kicked. I debated for a moment. Either way, there would be more feelings involved and I craved that. Once again, the voice spoke, still ever so softly. "Iris, please."

And so my eyes opened. The light threw my vision off for a moment and I thought I was seeing spots. After a blink, my gaze locked on a very blue one and I sucked in a breath through my teeth. Heaven. Definitely heaven. Unless there was some spell put on me, it was really him. My whole world, my other half, my heart, my soul. "Kyoya," I whispered, afraid that any more than that was going to break this like an illusion. A small smile flitted across his lips before the serious expression returned. Tears swarmed the edges of my eyes but I couldn't have been less bothered to push them away. Suddenly the pounding in my head receded and I was left with only calm to wash over me.

"I'm sorry, I should have come back after the first week but I just couldn't, not when I was in the middle of this big life-debate. Everything I thought I knew came and went out of my head and I couldn't make sense of any of it. I wanted to be the best blader on the face of the planet and that didn't happen. I wanted to fight everything that came my way so I could stay on top and stay strong, that didn't work. I couldn't even keep those guys at the fair from getting to you, and the only thing I wanted that night was to be with you. I got nervous that you weren't having fun and made an excuse to clear my head. We spent three years hopping back and forth and stealing whatever time we could get but I knew it wasn't enough for either of us, so I left for a while to make a big decision that could make the difference to both of us, and I didn't want to leave my thoughts until I was absolutely positive—I didn't want to hurt you by changing my mind." The words that gushed off his tongue in a rough mumble made next to no sense to me as I tried to put them together. I didn't understand what the big deal about all of that was if we were dead—none of that mattered anyway. "I finally came to my decision… And the others had left already to come here. I called my brother even though I swore I would never do that and he brought me over. They said you'd just passed out and they'd brought you up here to your room. Lucas said you hadn't slept well and I didn't want to wake you up, so I just…." He trailed off, biting his bottom lip as he waited anxiously for a response.

It took longer than it should have for me to process everything he'd told me. Assuming I _wasn't _dead, the alarm clock should be on the nightstand beside me… I shifted my gaze and sure enough, the glow of the red numbers said _2:43 AM_. I was sitting up, my weight against his body with a woven blanket over the both of us. He leaned on the wall above my bed, head currently bent and breathing slightly fast as the anticipation built for my next words.

"I forgive you. I don't know how you thought it could be any different. I need you, and that's not going to change." Our mouths molded together again, losing all the pent up frustration that came from never seeing each other in the heat of the kiss. Several long moments passed before we parted, panting as we stared at each other. My bruised lips ached for more but I knew I had to wait and sort this out. "What… What decision did you make?"

Fear flashed through his eyes and his head drooped for a second as he thought. Shifting slightly, he pushed me back to sit on my knees in front of him. I was confused when he reached down into his pants pocket, his hand returning in a loose fist. "I never thought I would need anyone else for anything. I thought I could live on my own. I thought my life was perfect. I thought I was _whole_. My promise to myself was that I would never let anyone else see any part of me I wanted to keep hidden… It wasn't a choice with you. You broke me down. You made me feel things I didn't know I could feel. I never thought it was possible for me to love someone this much, and I sure as hell never thought anyone would even consider loving me. But you did. And I can't imagine being anywhere without you, living any place you're not. I may not have much of anything to give you, but I promise I'll never leave you alone again, and I'll never do anything to hurt you or push you away from me. Iris Malare… Marry me?"

* * *

**Did any of you catch my quote from the original? Yeah, big sappy me, I felt like I had to use at least one partial quote and that just happened to be my favorite of anything and everything. Moving on!**

**So… That's it. The end of it all. This is crazy to me; I haven't wrapped my head around it yet. I actually wrote a few more chapters but they were all crap and I felt like I was pleased enough with the ending of the last chapter to just stick this epilogue here. So here you go, I was happy with the way the epilogue turned out, and I hoped you guys liked it as much as I did. **

**I thought I'd go back over the credentials I gave at the end of the original for this rewrite and self-evaluate how I did. So here we go!**

_1. Character development for Iris was pretty… Nonexistent._

_2. The plot skipped around. A LOT. It needed more filler._

_3. The story as a whole needed more detail, background, etc. I'm going to focus on character profiling to give my OC's (Allie and Lucas too) a bit more depth and realism._

_4. I threw in a lot of minute details that were irrelevant or that only affected a few chapters (ie like Ray.)_

_5. Kind of refers back to 4: Ray. I want to do more development with him as well. I think a bit of competition for Iris' heart will benefit the story.  
6. Iris' relationship with the other characters besides Kyoya (even Masamune, who I had constantly hitting on her) wasn't great. It was like she distanced herself from them, which wasn't what I intended at all. It made me sad._

_7. I need some other plot line than the romance as well. _

**1. I feel like I did much better this time, for sure. She went from being this little secluded girl whose feelings were extremely sheltered and doubtful of human contact to this character that I've really come to hold very close to my heart. I managed to develop her into a fine young lady while retaining a lot of her sassy personality and tendency to feel pain very easily, which I find a lot of people can relate to.**

**2. I did a LOT better with that this time. Up until the year skip which I filled with journal entries, every chapter took place back to back, and then of course the epilogue. I felt like there was also plenty of filler between.**

**3. I expanded more on little things in reference to Lucas and Allie, but I felt like the way I chose to use them also made a huge difference in how much I told about them. This time I think the lesser amounts of detail in their respects were appropriate, though enough to keep the focus on Iris instead of going into too much about them.**

**4. Even though you guys couldn't tell, I cut a whole crapload of stuff out of pretty much every chapter to reduce the number of irrelevant details, and I was careful to make sure that as many ideas as I could manage supported the main plot.**

**5. Ray was kind of fun for me this time, as sick as it sounds. I turned him from genuinely caring ex-lover to super bondage boy with a crazy world-dominating personality. I loved the way I had him think and speak, and as scary as it is, I loved having her dad kill him off. I loved her dad too, for the very short time he was with us, and looking back I would have like to have worked with him a bit more, but I'm pleased with it overall.**

**6. This, once again, was strengthened in proportion. I liked the idea that she could be friends with Hyoma and gain a healthy level of respect for Gingka; she and Madoka bonded and Benkei went from a semi-foe to a friend she could trust. Yuu was like her little brother that helped her fading relationship with her cousin. **

**7. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Yay me. :3**

**For this story overall, I was very pleased with the rewrite. Or course, as a writer, I always feel like I could do better, and that maybe I should have worked harder, but I also know that a lot of the time us writers have a tendency to be super hard on ourselves, and I can't always obsess over small things like we want to.**

**This almost hurts me to do, but I'm going to do some final review responses. Oh my god, my feels!**

**MyCorruptKindness: You reviewed once for this, but that's okay! You told me everything in your reviews for the old one. **

**Darkness Leviathan/Pokemon Ranger 6110: (I know these are both you since you messaged me, so I'm just doing them together) You've pretty much been the best reader ever, and I'm so thankful for all your advice and all the talking we've done. I'll have you know, you're awesome and you're definitely one of the best people I've met on this site. Anyone would be lucky to have you as a friend, and I know that if I ever need more advice, I can go to you. You rock, just saying. And if I don't stop, I could go on about you forever. :)**

**roserain1998: You're so sweet, my dear. I really smiled when I saw your most recent review, and I think I would have really enjoyed seeing more of you.**

**So even though those were the only three reviewers, there were more favorites and follows and stuff. Here they are: Darkness Leviathan, MyCorruptKindness, The-Gray-Ninja, roserain1998, and CaBu12. I love all of you guys so much.**

**Also a big thanks to everyone who read and reviewed and followed and favorited the old one, I still love you guys too.**

**Oh my God, let me just scream for a minute. The original Claws Of His Heart hit about 2500 views while I was writing this, okay? That's amazing, you guys. Crazy. But this story blew my mind. As of the very moment before this was posted, there were 7,876 views to this story IN A MONTH. So excuse me for totally flipping out because that is more than all my other stories combined EVER. Just saying. SO INTERNET SWEETS FOR ALL! (in case you don't like cookies—you can choose your own :3)**

**One last little thing before I leave you guys to browse the rest of fanfiction. I promise, it's short. **

**In your reviews if you choose to leave them (please do, I'll still love you and I respond to all of them via PM) alongside your thoughts on the epilogue, please put at least one comment on how I did on any of the credentials I laid down for myself.**

**I LOVE ALL OF YOU, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT! STAY WELL, MY FRIENDS! LIVE LIFE! HAVE FUN! And, as one of my good friends once said to me, IF LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, MAKE APPLE JUICE AND LET THE WORLD WONDER HOW YOU DID IT!**

**~Thorn**


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